Demands on scientific studies in clinical toxicology

Scientific case studies in clinical toxicology on single cases or series of similar cases should document sufficient information on the clinical methodology and observations, the medical laboratory methodology and results, the toxicological analyses methodology and results, the source of used reference values for drug/poison concentrations and kinetics with critical discussion of such values, a description and discussion of the toxicodynamic, the toxicological and the kinetic properties of the detected drugs and/or poisons. The data management, statistical analysis and finally the clinical and/or analytical outcomes must also be described and discussed in correlation to already published data. Statistical methods used for evaluation of clinical as well as for analytical data should be described in detail. When possible, quantitative findings should be presented with appropriate indicators of measurement error or uncertainty. Requirements for such studies are discussed.