title: Quality of Reporting Randomized Controlled Trials in Five Leading Neurology Journals in 2008 and 2013 Using the Modified "Risk of Bias" Tool.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  To examine the risk of bias of methodological quality of reporting randomized clinical trials (RCTs) in major neurology journals before and after the update (2011) of Cochrane risk of bias tool.
  
  
  METHODS
  RCTs in 5 leading neurology journals in 2008 and 2013 were searched systematically. Characteristics were extracted based on the list of the modified Cochrane Collaboration's tool. Country, number of patients, type of intervention, and funding source also were examined for further analysis.
  
  
  RESULTS
  A total of 138 RCTs were enrolled in this study. The rates of following a trial plan were 61.6% for the allocation generation, 52.9% for the allocation concealment, 84.8% for the blinding of the participants or the personnel, 34.8% for the blinding of outcome assessment, 78.3% for the incomplete outcome data, and 67.4% for the selective reporting. A significant setback was found in "the selective reporting" in 2013 than that in 2008. Trials performed by multi-centers and on a large scale had significantly more "low risk of bias" trials. Not only the number of surgical trials (5.8%) was much less than that of trials using drugs (73.9%), but also the reporting quality of surgical trials were worse (P = 0.008). Finally, only 17.4% trials met the criterion of "low risk of bias."
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The modified "risk of bias" tool is an improved version for assessment. Methodological quality of reporting RCTs in the 5neurology journals is unsatisfactory, especially that for surgical RCTs, and it could be further improved.
authors.affiliation: Department of Orthopedics, Changhai Hospital affiliated to the Second Military Medical University, Shanghai, PR China.
authors.forename: Xiao
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Zhai
authors.affiliation: Graduate Management Unit, Changhai Hospital affiliated to the Second Military Medical University, Shanghai, PR China.
authors.forename: Jin
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Cui
authors.affiliation: Graduate Management Unit, Changhai Hospital affiliated to the Second Military Medical University, Shanghai, PR China.
authors.forename: Yiran
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurosurgery, Hongqi Hospital of Mudanjiang Medical University, Heilongjiang, PR China.
authors.forename: Zhiquan
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Qu
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurosurgery, Hongqi Hospital of Mudanjiang Medical University, Heilongjiang, PR China.
authors.forename: Qingchun
authors.initials: Q
authors.lastname: Mu
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurosurgery, the First Hospital of Jilin University, Jilin, PR China.
authors.forename: Peiwen
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Li
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurosurgery, the First Hospital of Jilin University, Jilin, PR China.
authors.forename: Chaochao
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.affiliation: Department of Orthopedics, Changhai Hospital affiliated to the Second Military Medical University, Shanghai, PR China.
authors.forename: Mingyuan
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Yang
authors.affiliation: Department of Orthopedics, Changhai Hospital affiliated to the Second Military Medical University, Shanghai, PR China. Electronic address: sirchenxiao@126.com.
authors.forename: Xiao
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.affiliation: Department of Orthopedics, Changhai Hospital affiliated to the Second Military Medical University, Shanghai, PR China. Electronic address: ziqiang_chen81@126.com.
authors.forename: Ziqiang
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.affiliation: Department of Orthopedics, Changhai Hospital affiliated to the Second Military Medical University, Shanghai, PR China. Electronic address: limingchspine@126.com.
authors.forename: Ming
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Li
mesh_terms: D006801:Humans; D009462:Neurology; D010506:Periodicals as Topic; D017594:Publication Bias; D016032:Randomized Controlled Trials as Topic / Q000592:standards*; D058028:Research Report / Q000592:standards*; D015983:Selection Bias
keywords: Cochrane Collaboration's tool; Methodological quality; Neurology; Randomized controlled trials; Risk of bias