Have sperm counts been reduced 50 percent in 50 years? A statistical model revisited. Olsen GW; Bodner KM; Ramlow JM; Ross CE; Lipshultz LI . Fertil Steril (United States), Apr 1995, 63(4) p887-93
Frequency of citation and outcome of cholesterol lowering trials. Ravnskov, U. Bmj 1992 305(6855): 717.
Meta-Analyses of Randomized Control Trials: An Update of the Quality and Methodology. Sacks HS, Berrier J, Reitman D, PAgano D, Chalmers TC. pp. 427-442, in Medical Uses of Statistics: 2nd Edition, Bailar JC and Mosteller F (editors), Boston MA: NEJM Books (1992).
Publication bias: evidence of delayed publication in a cohort study of clinical research projects
Jerome M Stern and R John Simes
BMJ 1997; 315: 640-645.
Systematic reviews in health care: Investigating and dealing with publication and other biases in meta-analysis
Jonathan A C Sterne, Matthias Egger, and George Davey Smith
BMJ 2001; 323: 101-105.
Meta-analysis of Observational Studies in Epidemiology: A Proposal for Reporting. Donna F. Stroup, PhD, MSc; Jesse A. Berlin, ScD; Sally C. Morton, PhD; Ingram Olkin, PhD; G. David Williamson, PhD; Drummond Rennie, MD; David Moher, MSc; Betsy J. Becker, PhD; Theresa Ann Sipe, PhD; Stephen B. Thacker, MD, MSc; for the Meta-analysis Of Observational Studies in Epidemiology (MOOSE) Group April 19, 2000. JAMA. 2000;283:2008-2012. Also available at http://www.consort-statement.org/MOOSE.pdf
Impact of covert duplicate publication on meta-analysis: a case study. Martin R Tram鑢, D John M Reynolds, R Andrew Moore, and Henry J McQuay. BMJ 1997; 315: 635-640.
Additional resources and materials
The Cochrane Library. www.update-software.com/cochrane/cochrane-frame.html
"The Cochrane Library is an electronic publication designed to supply high quality evidence to inform people providing and receiving care, and those responsible for research, teaching, funding and administration at all levels."
Meta-analysis in clinical trials reporting: has a tool become a weapon? [editorial]. Boden, W. E. (1992). Am J Cardiol 69(6): 681-6.
Systematic reviews in health care: Assessing the quality of controlled clinical trials. Peter J黱i, Douglas G Altman, and Matthias Egger. BMJ 2001; 323: 42-46.
[Full text] A new system for grading recommendations in evidence based guidelines
Robin Harbour and Juliet Miller
BMJ 2001; 323: 334-336.[Full text] Rating the quality of evidence for clinical practice guidelines. Hadorn DC, Baker D, Hodges JS, Hicks N. J Clin Epidemiol 1996 Jul;49(7):749-54.
This article describes the system for rating the quality of medical evidence developed and used during creation of the Agency for Health Care Policy and Research-sponsored heart failure guideline. Previous approaches to rating evidence were not designed for use in the setting of clinical practice guidelines. The present system is based on the tenet that flaws in research design are serious to the extent they threaten the validity of the results of studies. A taxonomy of major and minor flaws based on that tenet was developed for randomized controlled trials and for cohort and medical registry studies. The use of the system is described in the context of two difficult clinical issues considered by the Panel: the role of coronary artery revascularization and the use of metoprolol.
PMID: 8691224 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]
Assessment Criteria http://www.jr2.ox.ac.uk/bandolier/band6/b6-5.html
Evidence-Based Everything http://www.jr2.ox.ac.uk/bandolier/band12/b12-1.html
Web-based resources.
CONSORT: Consolidated Standards of Reporting Trials. (Accessed November 20, 2001) http://www.consort-statement.org/
"The CONSORT statement is an important research tool that takes an evidence-based approach to improve the quality of reports of randomized trials. CONSORT comprises a checklist and flow diagram to help improve the quality of reports of randomized controlled trials. It offers a standard way for researchers to report trials. The checklist includes items, based on evidence, that need to be addressed in the report; the flow diagram provides readers with a clear picture of the progress of all participants in the trial, from the time they are randomized until the end of their involvement. The intent is to make the experimental process more clear, flawed or not, so that users of the data can more appropriately evaluate its validity for their purposes."
[library/pages/charnock.htm] [library/pages/cox.htm] [library/pages/milloy.htm] [library/pages/sparling.htm] [library/pages/kruskal.htm]McMaster Evidence Based Medicine Site.
http://hiru.hirunet.mcmaster.ca/ebm/I found many of the references from this source. EBM "promotes the collection, interpretation, and integration of valid, important and applicable patient-reported, clinician-observed, and research-derived evidence. The best available evidence, moderated by patient circumstances and preferences, is applied to improve the quality of clinical judgements and facilitate cost-effective health care."
Skeptical Inquirer.
http://www.csicop.org/Other examples were found in the pages of Skeptical Inquirer magazine, published by the Committee for the Scientific Investigation of the Paranormal. This group "encourages the critical investigation of paranormal and fringe-science claims from a responsible, scientific point of view and disseminates factual information about the results of such inquiries to the scientific community and the public. It also promotes science and scientific inquiry, critical thinking, science education, and the use of reason in examining important issues." They also maintain a web site, which has the full text of articles from back issues.
Bibliography
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[library/articles/davies.htm]"The existence of publication bias and risk factors for its occurrence" Dickersin K. Journal of the American Medical Association, 263: 1385-1389 (1990).
"Smoking and Carcinoma of the Lung: Prelimi
