Table 2 Total number of studies cited to justify RCTs stratified by specialty and study type
From: The pathway to RCTs: how many roads are there? Examining the homogeneity of RCT justification
Specialty | Total papers | Case series | Case controls | Cohort studies | Cross sectional | RCTs | Expert opinion | Review articles | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Ophthalmology | AVERAGE | 10 | 1.16 | 0.24 | 1.1 | 0.68 | 3.52 | 0.24 | 2.96 |
Std. Dev. | 6.6 | 2 | 0.83 | 1.5 | 1.35 | 3.83 | 0.52 | 2.42 | |
Maximum | 27 | 9 | 4 | 5 | 5 | 18 | 2 | 7 | |
Minimum | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
OB-GYN | AVERAGE | 4.8 | 1.7 | 0 | 0.2 | 0.04 | 1.96 | 0.12 | 0.68 |
Std. Dev. | 3.2 | 2.4 | 0 | 0.5 | 0.2 | 2.13 | 0.33 | 1.07 | |
Maximum | 12 | 8 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 7 | 1 | 4 | |
Minimum | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
Psychiatry | AVERAGE | 4.8 | 0.24 | 0.04 | 0.4 | 0.36 | 2.52 | 0.04 | 1.16 |
Std. Dev. | 3.1 | 0.66 | 0.2 | 1.4 | 0.99 | 2.02 | 0.2 | 1.46 | |
Maximum | 12 | 3 | 1 | 7 | 4 | 7 | 1 | 5 | |
Minimum | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
General Surgery | AVERAGE | 8.8 | 2 | 0.16 | 0.88 | 0.16 | 3.64 | 0.6 | 1.40 |
Std. Dev. | 4.5 | 2 | 0.47 | 0.88 | 0.47 | 3.17 | 1.08 | 1.41 | |
Maximum | 21 | 7 | 2 | 3 | 2 | 12 | 4 | 6 | |
Minimum | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
ENT | AVERAGE | 4.5 | 0.95 | 0.05 | 0.25 | 0.15 | 1.85 | 0.05 | 1.05 |
Std. Dev. | 2.8 | 1.1 | 0.22 | 0.91 | 0.49 | 2.25 | 0.22 | 1.36 | |
Maximum | 11 | 4 | 1 | 4 | 2 | 9 | 1 | 5 | |
Minimum | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
Internal Medicine | AVERAGE | 7.5 | 0.93 | 0.21 | 1.29 | 0.39 | 3.18 | 0.25 | 1.11 |
Std. Dev. | 4.2 | 1.6 | 0.69 | 2.42 | 0.99 | 3.24 | 0.65 | 1.07 | |
Maximum | 19 | 7 | 3 | 10 | 4 | 10 | 3 | 3 | |
Minimum | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |