Table 1

Reporting characteristics of the study design for 315 randomly selected HuGE articles (2001–2003)

Reporting characteristic
Count
Percent

Number of study participants


     < 100
49
15.6
     100–499
190
60.3
     500–999
47
14.9
     >= 1000
29
9.2
Reported the available power of the study


     No
275
87.3
     Yes
40
12.7
Reported that multiple study populations or case or control groups were used


     No
235
74.6
     Yes
80
25.4
Provided any information on the origin of the study participants


     No
38
12.1
     Yes
277
87.9
Provided any information on the enrollment criteria for the study participants


     No
8
2.5
     Yes
307
97.5
Sex distribution reported for all study participants


     No
84
26.7
     Yes
231
73.3
Mean or median age reported for all study participants


     No
109
34.6
     Yes
206
65.4
Standard deviation or interquartile range reported for all study participants


     No
143
45.4
     Yes
172
54.6
Explicitly stated the use of unrelated study participants


     No
259
82.2
     Yes
56
17.8
Potential for outcome misclassification


     No
272
86.3
     Unclear
6
1.9
     Yes
37
11.8

Yesupriya et al. BMC Medical Research Methodology 2008 8:31   doi:10.1186/1471-2288-8-31