Table 2.
Characteristics, main outcome results (overall and by whether or not the randomized controlled trial (RCT) described in the abstract was published), and the association with publication of the abstracts of RCTs presented at the Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology (ARVO) conferences during the years 2001–2004
| Characteristics | All abstracts (N = 513) | Abstracts of unpublished RCTs (N = 283) | Abstracts of published RCTs (N = 230) | Relative risks (RR) (95 % CI) | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| n (%**) | n (%**) | n (%**) | |||||||
| Characteristics of the RCTs | |||||||||
| Funding | |||||||||
| Not reported | 241 | (47.0) | 137 | (48.4) | 104 | (45.2) | |||
| Reported | 272 | (53.0) | 146 | (51.6) | 126 | (54.8) | |||
| At least one funding source | 158 | (58.1) | 73 | (50.0) | 85 | (67.5) | 1.32 | (1.09–1.60) | |
| Industry (pharmaceutical or other)* | 56 | (20.7) | 22 | (15.1) | 34 | (27.0) | 1.42 | (1.12–1.79) | |
| Government* | 71 | (26.1) | 31 | (21.2) | 40 | (31.8) | 1.31 | (1.04–1.65) | |
| Other* | 59 | (21.7) | 30 | (20.6) | 29 | (23.0) | 1.11 | (0.84–1.47) | |
| No funding | 114 | (41.9) | 73 | (50.0) | 41 | (32.5) | 0.76 | (0.58–0.99) | |
| Number of centers | |||||||||
| Not reported | 361 | (70.4) | 208 | (73.5) | 153 | (66.5) | Ref | ||
| Reported | 152 | (29.6) | 75 | (26.5) | 77 | (33.5) | 1.20 | (0.98–1.46) | |
| Single center | 46 | (30.3) | 31 | (41.3) | 15 | (19.5) | Ref | ||
| Multicenter | 106 | (69.7) | 44 | (58.7) | 62 | (80.5) | 1.79 | (1.15–2.80) | |
| Presentation at ARVO | |||||||||
| Poster | 418 | (81.5) | 239 | (84.5) | 179 | (77.8) | Ref | ||
| Oral | 95 | (18.5) | 44 | (15.5) | 51 | (22.2) | 1.25 | (1.01–1.56) | |
| Main outcome results | |||||||||
| Main outcome - Statistical significance | |||||||||
| Not reported | 285 | (55.6) | 178 | (63.9) | 107 | (46.5) | Ref | ||
| Reported | 228 | (44.4) | 105 | (37.1) | 123 | (53.5) | 1.44 | (1.19–1.74) | |
| Not statistically significant | 111 | (48.7) | 52 | (49.5) | 59 | (48.0) | Ref | ||
| Statistically significant | 117 | (51.3) | 53 | (50.5) | 64 | (52.0) | 0.97 | (0.76–1.24) | |
* More than one option could apply to each abstract
** Percentages are column percentages. Percentages in the shaded rows are calculated using as the denominator number of abstracts reporting that characteristic
Data (RRs and 95 % CIs) reported in bold text are statistically significant at the 5 % level