Consistency of causal claims in observational studies: a review of papers published in a general medical journal.

ABSTRACT:

Objective

To evaluate the consistency of causal statements in observational studies published in The BMJ.

Design

Review of observational studies published in a general medical journal.

Data source

Cohort and other longitudinal studies describing an exposure-outcome relationship published in The BMJ in 2018. We also had access to the submitted papers and reviewer reports.

Main outcome measures

Proportion of published research papers with 'inconsistent' use of causal language. Papers where language was consistently causal or non-causal were classified as 'consistently causal' or 'consistently not causal', respectively. For the 'inconsistent' papers, we then compared the published and submitted version.

Results

Of 151 published research papers

SUBMITTER: Olarte Parra C 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8141434 | biostudies-literature | 2021 May

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature