[Clinical trials published in Revista Española de Anestesiología y Reanimación: characteristics and quality of design].
OBJECTIVE
To identify and assess the quality of controlled clinical trials published in Revista Española de Anestesiología y Reanimación during the period 1967-2004.


METHODS
We identified and classified clinical trials following the criteria adopted by the International Cochrane Collaboration. Each trial was described and its design assessed.


RESULTS
We identified 640 controlled clinical trials: 233 (36.4%) were published as original articles, 398 (62.2%) were conference presentations, and 9 (1.4%) were in other publication formats. The most common type of trial design, found in 398 (62.2%) cases, was drug-to-drug comparison. The main outcome was of clinical interest in 464 (72.5%) cases. The system of randomization used was considered adequate in only 37 (5.8%) of the studies. The funding source for 432 (67.5%) trials was not specified.


CONCLUSIONS
It is noteworthy that Revista Española de Anestesiología y Reanimación has published a large number of controlled clinical trials in comparison with other Spanish journals covered by Index Medicus. We observed that important information on how the trials were carried out was missing and that trial quality was low in terms of current standards. The editorial board's adoption of the CONSORT statement may help to improve the quality of trials currently being published, and that question should be analyzed after a reasonable period of time has passed.
García-Alamino
J M
JM
Centro Cochrane Iberoamericano-Servicio de Epidemiología Clínica y Salud Pública, Hospital de la Santa Creu i Sant Pau, Barcelona. quinnom@yahoo.es
Parera
A
A
Ollé
G
G
Bonfill
X
X
D000776:Anesthesiology; D002986:Clinical Trials as Topic / Q000379:methods / Q000592:standards*; D010506:Periodicals as Topic; D011643:Publishing / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D013030:Spain