Adequacy of risk of bias assessment in surgical vs non-surgical trials in Cochrane reviews: a methodological study.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Bias in randomized controlled trials (RCTs) can lead to underestimation or overestimation of the true effects of interventions. Surgical RCTs may suffer from the risk of bias (RoB) that is avoidable in trials of other interventions, and vice versa. We aimed to compare the adequacy of RoB assessments in surgical versus non-surgical RCTs included in Cochrane reviews and to assess the most common differences in those RoB assessments. Due to specificities of surgical trials, i.e. difficulties associated with blinding of surgical interventions, we hypothesized that assessments of surgical trials may be more adequate, compared to RCTs of non-surgical interventions.

Methods

This was a methodological study, analyzing methods of published Cochrane systematic reviews. Data

SUBMITTER: Barcot O 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7526117 | biostudies-literature | 2020 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature