Related Experiment Video
Updated: Sep 15, 2025
Accuracy in Dental Medicine, A New Way to Measure Trueness and Precision
Published on: April 29, 2014
Completeness of reporting in abstracts of randomized controlled trials in dental medicine published from 2015-2023: A
Nensi Bralić1, Livia Puljak2, Barbara Ćaćić3
1Department of Research in Biomedicine and Health, University of Split School of Medicine, Split, Croatia.
Background:
Well-reported scientific abstracts are essential as they provide a concise summary of key research findings. Our study aimed to assess the completeness of reporting in abstracts of randomized controlled trials (RCTs) in dental medicine using the CONSORT for Abstracts (CONSORT-A) checklist.
Methods:
This was a methodological cross-sectional study. We searched PubMed for RCTs published between August 2015 and August 2023 in Q1 journals from the "Dentistry, Oral Surgery & Medicine" category of the Journal Citation Reports. Two authors independently screened the records and assessed their adherence to 15 CONSORT-A items (items Authors and Recruitment were not assessed) for each abstract. All items were scored with '1' if reported adequately (in line with CONSORT-A), '0' if reported inadequately, and '0.5' if the reporting was partially adequate. We calculated each abstract's adherence (percentage) rate and median adherence across all abstracts. The adherence to CONSORT-A items was determined by dividing the number of articles that reported each item adequately by the total number of articles included. We also conducted a Jonckheere-Terpstra trend test to assess the temporal trend.
Results:
The search resulted in 1691 records, of which 1564 were eligible for inclusion. We analyzed a random sample of 400 abstracts. Median adherence to CONSORT-A overall was 43.3% (95% CI 43.3 to 43.3). Items with the highest adherence scores were 'Conclusions', 'Objective', and 'Interventions', while 'Funding', 'Randomization', and 'Harms' had the lowest adherence scores. Median adherence to CONSORT-A has not improved over time (p = 0.342). For each analyzed year, mean adherence to CONSORT-A was around 40%.
Conclusions:
Reporting in abstracts of RCTs in dental medicine was suboptimal, and there was no improvement from 2015 to 2023. Improved guideline enforcement and author education are vital for enhancing abstract reporting quality and transparency.
Related Concept Videos
01:15Teeth
In the bud stage, the tooth germ (an aggregation of cells) starts to form in the developing jawbone. During the cap stage, the tooth germ differentiates into enamel organ, dental papilla, and dental sac, which will later develop into the tooth's enamel, dentin...
01:16Clinical Trials
There are four phases in a clinical trial. A phase one...
01:24Data Reporting and Recording
01:11Clinical Trials: Overview