[Use of statistical analysis in original articles in "Actas Urológicas Españolas." Accessibility for the reader]

To describe the use of statistical methods employed in original articles published in Actas Urológicas Españolas as the first step to quantify the accessability for the readers.

Observational, retrospective, descriptive and transversal study to analize all the original articles published in Actas Urológicas Españolas during the year 2000. Once the anectotic cases were excluded, 55 original studies were selected. In each article it was minuciously reviewed the methods and results sections, tables and figures included, to identify the statistical analysis used and to classify them into 18 categories with three accessability levels as Emerson and Colditz and Mora y cols, previously reported: descriptive statistics, bivariables analysis and complex analysis. A randomized sample of the originals were reviewed again by the same investigator three months later to evaluate the criteria liability. The accessability was defined as a) article dependent (rate of originals that readers with different statistical knowledge are able to understand) and b) analysis dependent (rate of statistical methods respect to the total performed overall the articles that readers are able to understand).

Our major findings are that the more frequently used technics are descriptive analysis (39.3%), bivariable tables (12.1%), survival analysis (10%), t Student and z tests (6%), and nonparametric tests (8.6%). The accessability for a reader which statistical konowledge includes bivariable methods is 63.6% (IC 95% 49%-76%) and 79% (IC 95% 71%-85), article and analysis dependent respectively, rates that are similar to the reported for biomedical journals in our country.

A great percentage of original articles in Actas Urológicas Españolas includes complex analysis. It could be good that readers were able to increase our statistical and methodological knowledge to perform a critical approach to our publication.