[Abstruse comparisons in abstracts of clinical trials in Spanish medical journals].
BACKGROUND
To describe the frequency of abstracts of clinical trials whose information does not allow to assess the clinical relevance of the comparisons made.


METHODS
Review of 64 trials published in the journals Atención Primaria and Medicina Clínica. Abstracts were defined as quantitative or qualitative abtruse when it was not possible to identify the numerical values used in the comparison or when scales were included without specifying their range and clinical implications, respectively.


RESULTS
43.7% of abstracts were deemed quantitively abstruse, and 75% of 8 including scales were deemed qualitatively abstruse.


CONCLUSIONS
Abstracts of clinical trials should present results in a way that makes it possible to evaluate
Librero
J
J
Fundación Instituto de Investigación en Servicios de Salud, Valencia, Spain.
Peiró
S
S
D002986:Clinical Trials as Topic; D006801:Humans; D011643:Publishing