Quality of randomized controlled trial abstracts presented at the Turkish National Surgical Congresses held in the last decade: An audit based on the CONSORT guidelines

Abstract

Purpose: Randomized controlled trial (RCT) is considered as the most reliable source of information in evidence-based medicine, provided that clear, transparent and detailed information are transferred to the reader. Sometimes, an abstract is the only accessible source of an RCT result. The aim of this study was to evaluate the quality of RCT abstracts presented at the Turkish National Surgical Congresses.

Materials and Methods: Abstract books published for three biennial Congresses of the Turkish Surgical Society (Years 2004, 2006 and 2008) were evaluated. All RCT abstracts were then identified and reviewed according to the checklist items provided by CONSORT guideline for abstract reporting. Inter-year comparisons were also performed to determine if there has been an improvement in the quality over time.

Results: Among overall 2725 abstracts of verbal and poster presentations, some 100 (3.7%) were identified as an RCT and were included in the final analysis. In the majority of the abstracts, the participants (94%), objective (86%), interventions (96%), number of patients-randomized (96%) and conclusions (98%) were reported satisfactorily. Reporting of the primary outcome was the only variable that has improved over time. There were poor reporting quality for abstract title (18%), primary outcome measure (10%), and randomization (13%), blinding (15%), number of patients-analyzed (28%) and outcome (40%). There was no reported trial registration or funding at all. The median point per abstract was 7 (range = 4-14); there was no significant difference between these years.

Conclusion: The overall quality of RCT abstracts presented at the Turkish National Surgical Congresses appears to be poor and should be improved for clear, transparent, and detailed information to be transferred.