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Methods in Pharmacoepidemiology

Poster Gallery-Methods in Pharmacoepidemiology

(P-182) Can We Really Trust the Findings of the COVID-19 Research? Quality Assessment of the Research Articles Published on COVID-19

Location: Poster Gallery-Methods in Pharmacoepidemiology
Background: Rapid progression of COVID-19 pandemic combined with lack of available knowledge to guide clinical decision making has resulted in an exponential increase in the publication of research articles on COVID-19 in the past year. However, the reliability of the findings of these articles depends on the quality of the research.

Objectives: To evaluate the quality of Randomized Controlled Trials (RCTs) published on COVID-19.

Methods: A systematic search was performed in PubMed and Google Scholar between 2019 Dec 1 and 2020 Dec 31 to identify the RCTs published on COVID-19. Key search terms used were (("covid 19"[Supplementary Concept] OR "Coronavirus Infections"[MeSH Terms:noexp] OR "severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2"[Supplementary Concept]) AND ("randomized controlled trial"[Publication Type] OR ("controlled clinical trial"[Publication Type]). Two reviewers have independently assessed the quality of included studies using the Modified Jadad Scale. Based on scores obtained from the scale, studies were categorized into high-quality (with a score of 6-8 points), moderate quality (4-5 points), or poor-quality ( < 4 points).

Results: Out of 85,847 search results, 60 RCTs were included in the study, of which 13 (21.6%) were double-blinded, 5 (0.83%) were single-blinded, and 29 (48.3%) were open-labeled studies. Continent-wise, 27 studies were conducted in Asia, 9 in Europe, 15 in the Americas, 1 each in Australia and Africa, and 6 were intercontinental studies. Out of 60 RCTs, 20 (33.3%) were of high-quality, 33 (55.0%) were of moderate quality, and 7 (11.6 %) were of low-quality studies. Reasons behind rating the studies of moderate and low quality were lack of blinding, smaller sample size, and short duration.

Conclusions: It was identified that the less percentage of RCTs conducted on COVID-19 were of high quality. The quality of the studies compromised may be due to the research done for publication, lack of well-structured protocol, lesser sample size, shorter study duration, and a Fast-track review process.