Evaluating psychiatric case-control studies using the STROBE (STrengthening the Reporting of OBservational Studies in Epidemiology) statement.
OBJECTIVE
Case-control studies are important in developing clinical and public health knowledge. The STROBE statement (STrengthening the Reporting of OBservational Studies in Epidemiology) was developed to establish a checklist of items that should be included in articles reporting observational studies. Our aim was to analyze whether the psychiatric case-control articles published in Brazilian journals with CAPES Qualis rating B1/B2 in 2009 conformed with the STROBE statement.


METHODS
Descriptive study on psychiatric papers published in Brazilian journals, within the Postgraduate Medical Program on Psychiatry, at Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul.


METHODS
All psychiatric case-control studies from Brazilian Qualis B1/B2 journals of psychiatry, neurology and public health in 2009 were analyzed. The four most specific items of the STROBE statement were used to evaluate whether these studies fitted within the case-control parameters: 1) selection of cases and controls; 2) controlling for bias; 3) statistical analysis; and 4) presentation of results.


RESULTS
Sixteen case-control studies were identified, of which eleven (68.75%) were in psychiatry-focused journals. From analysis using the STROBE statement, all of the articles conformed with item 1; two (12.5%) completely conformed with item 2; none completely conformed with item 3; and only three (18.8%) conformed with item 4.


CONCLUSIONS
The case-control studies analyzed here did not completely conform with the four STROBE statement items for case-control design. In view of the inadequate methodology of the published studies, these findings justify focusing on research and methodology and expanding the investigations on adherence of studies to their designs.
Postgraduate Medical Program on Psychiatry, Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul, Porto Alegre, Brazil.
Pedro Domingues
PD
Goi
Postgraduate Medical Program on Psychiatry, Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul, Porto Alegre, Brazil.
Julia Domingues
JD
Goi
Postgraduate Medical Program on Psychiatry, Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul, Porto Alegre, Brazil.
Kariny Larissa
KL
Cordini
Postgraduate Medical Program on Psychiatry, Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul, Porto Alegre, Brazil.
Keila Mendes
KM
Ceresér
Postgraduate Medical Program on Psychiatry, Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul, Porto Alegre, Brazil.
Neusa Sica da
NS
Rocha
D001938:Brazil; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D015340:Epidemiologic Research Design; D006801:Humans; D011570:Psychiatry; D011643:Publishing / Q000592:standards*