Handsearching and descriptive analysis of controlled clinical trials published in neurology biomedical journals in Spain

Tags: Poster
Pardo-Hernandez H1, Caudron C2, Urrútia G1, Bonfill X3
1Iberoamerican Cochrane Centre, CIBER de Epidemiología y Salud Pública (CIBERESP), 2Iberoamerican Cochrane Centre, 3Iberoamerican Cochrane Centre, CIBER de Epidemiología y Salud Pública (CIBERESP), Universitat Autonoma de Barcelona

Background:

Few Spanish neurology journals are indexed in the major literature databases. Electronic search strategies, therefore, may be insufficient for exhaustive retrieval of controlled clinical trials (CCT) published in these journals. The implementation of a handsearching approach is, therefore, an invaluable complement.

Objectives:

To identify, describe and evaluate the quality of CCTs published in neurology journals in Spain. To submit the corresponding references to CENTRAL.

Methods:

Following Cochrane guidance, we handsearched eligible neurology journals from Spain that publish original research, from January 2018 backwards until inception. We recorded the health conditions and interventions assessed, main characteristics of participants, outcomes, settings, and risks of bias. We recorded data in BADERI, an internet-based platform for co-ordinating handsearching activities. We sent references to all identified CCTs to CENTRAL, the Cochrane database of CCTs.

Results:

We identified 15 Spanish neurology journals, most of which were not indexed in the major literature databases.We identified a total of 141 CCTs and submitted these references to CENTRAL. We will present the main characteristics of these CCTs at the Edinburgh Cochrane Colloquium.

Conclusions:

The number of CCTs published in Spanish neurology journals is low. Most CCTs identified in this project would not have been retrieved using electronic search strategies.

Patient or healthcare consumer involvement:

No patients or consumers were involved in this study. However, by giving visibility to CCTs published in non-indexed journals, we hope to acknowledge the contribution of participants who took part in these CCTs.