Quality of reporting according to the CONSORT, STROBE and Timmer instrument at the American Burn Association (ABA) annual meetings 2000 and 2008

Table 3 Quality of reporting of abstracts at BURNS annual meeting 2000 and 2008 according to the Timmer instrument for randomized-control trials

Timmer instrument for RCTs	2000				2008
	oral		poster		oral		Poster
	N	%	n	%	n	%	n	%
Question/objective sufficiently described?	5	56	4	100	7	100	2	100
Design evident and appropriate to answer study question?	8	89	3	75	6	86	2	100
Subject characteristics sufficiently described?	7	78	0	0	5	71	2	100
Subjects appropriate to the study question?	7	78	3	75	6	86	1	50
Controls used and appropriate? (if no control, check no)	9	100	4	100	7	100	2	100
Method of subject selection described and appropriate?	0	0	0	0	2	29	0	0
If random allocation to treatment groups was possible, is it described? (if not possible, check n/a)	0	0	1	25	1	14	0	0
If blinding of investigators to intervention was possible, is it reported? (If not possible, n/a)	0	0	0	0	1	14	0	0
If blinding of subjects to intervention was possible, is it reported? (If not possible, n/a)¹	2	22	0	0	3	43	0	0
Outcome measure well defined and robust to measurement bias? Means of assessment reported?	7	78	4	100	5	71	2	100
Confounding accounted for?	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Sample size adequate?	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Post hoc power calculations or confidence intervals reported for statistically non significant results?	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Statistical analyses appropriate?	2	22	1	25	3	43	1	50
Statistical tests stated?	0	0	1	25	1	14	1	50
Exact p-values or confidence intervals stated?	7	78	2	50	7	100	2	100
Attrition of subjects and reason for attrition recorded?	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Results reported in sufficient detail?	7	78	3	75	7	100	2	100
Do the results support the conclusions?	9	100	4	100	7	100	2	100
Sum (items 1-19)

ISSN: 1471-2288