“Spin” Is Common in Emergency Medicine Abstracts

In a convenience sample of randomized trials with negative results for their primary outcomes, abstracts were deemed to be misleadingly positive 44% of the time.

“Spin” — previously defined as “use of specific reporting strategies … to highlight that the experimental treatment is beneficial, despite a statistically nonsignificant difference for the primary outcome, or to distract the reader from statistically nonsignificant results” — is common in medical literature (NEJM JW Gen Med Jul 2010 and JAMA 2010; 303:2058), but its prevalence in emergency medicine (EM)–specific literature has not been previously studied.

To determine the frequency of spin in abstracts of EM-based randomized trials, researchers searched PubMed for trials with statistically nonsignificant results published in either the top five h-index EM journals or very high impact general medical journals from 2013 to 2017. Two trained re…

Reviewing Author

Benton R. Hunter, MD

Disclosures

Leadership Positions in Professional SocietiesSociety for Academic Emergency Medicine (Chair, Evidence Based Healthcare Interest Group)

Benton R. Hunter, MD

Disclosures

Leadership Positions in Professional SocietiesSociety for Academic Emergency Medicine (Chair, Evidence Based Healthcare Interest Group)

“Spin” Is Common in Emergency Medicine Abstracts

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Reviewing Author