title: The Standards of Reporting of Neurological Disorders (STROND) checklist: Application to multiple sclerosis.
abstract: Descriptive epidemiological studies documenting the incidence and prevalence of multiple sclerosis (MS) and studies that report morbidity, mortality, and economic burden provide essential information for patients, healthcare providers, and policymakers. However, the quality of reporting of observational studies is often poor, limiting the ability to evaluate the validity of the findings. The Standards of Reporting of Neurological Disorders (STROND) reporting guideline comprises recommendations and a 15-item checklist of reporting items to aid high-quality reporting of incidence and prevalence studies of neurological disorders.
  
  
  
  We explain the basic reporting items of the STROND checklist for the methods, results, and discussion sections in the context of the MS literature and searched for examples of good reporting of those items.
  
  
  
  We identified examples of good reporting of the basic reporting items from previous systematic reviews of the descriptive epidemiologic literature in MS.
  
  
  
  The adoption of the STROND reporting guidelines should improve the quality of reporting of descriptive epidemiological studies in MS. Along with efforts to improve methodological aspects of epidemiological studies and harmonization of data collection efforts, improved reporting could contribute to furthering our understanding of the epidemiology of MS.
authors.affiliation: Department of Internal Medicine, College of Medicine, Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Manitoba, Health Sciences Center, Winnipeg, MB, Canada.
authors.forename: Kirsten M
authors.initials: KM
authors.lastname: Fiest
authors.affiliation: Department of Internal Medicine, College of Medicine, Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Manitoba, Health Sciences Center, Winnipeg, MB, Canada / Department of Community Health Sciences, Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Manitoba, Winnipeg, MB, Canada.
authors.forename: Ruth Ann
authors.initials: RA
authors.lastname: Marrie
authors.affiliation: Department of Community Health Sciences and O'Brien Institute for Public Health, Cumming School of Medicine, University of Calgary, Calgary, AB, Canada / Department of Clinical Neurosciences and Hotchkiss Brain Institute, Cumming School of Medicine, University of Calgary, Calgary, AB, Canada.
authors.forename: Nathalie
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Jette
authors.affiliation: Nuffield Department of Population Health, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK.
authors.forename: Derrick A
authors.initials: DA
authors.lastname: Bennett
mesh_terms: D057189:Checklist / Q000592:standards*; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D006801:Humans; D009103:Multiple Sclerosis / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000628:therapy; D009422:Nervous System Diseases / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000628:therapy; D015995:Prevalence; D012107:Research Design / Q000592:standards*
keywords: Multiple sclerosis; epidemiology; reporting