Evaluation of the reporting quality of observational studies in Master of Public Health’s dissertations in China: a systematic review
Abstract Backgrounds Master of public health (MPH) plays an important role in Chinese medical education, and the dissertations is an important part of MPH education. In MPH dissertations, most are observational studies. Compared with randomized controlled trial (RCT), observational studies are more prone to information bias. So, the reporting of the observational studies should be transparent and standard. But, no research on evaluating the reporting quality of the MPH dissertation has been found. Methods A systematic literature search was performed in the Wanfang database from January 1, 2014 to May 31, 2019. The Strengthening the Reporting of Observation Studies in Epidemiology (STROBE) statement was adopted to evaluate the reporting quality of the selected studies. Results The median of compliance with STROBE statement of 165 articles was 67.82%. The mean (standard deviation) of STROBE score was 14.3 (1.91). Five items/sub-items were 100% reported: background, objectives, study design, report numbers of individuals at each stage, and key result. Fifteen items/sub-items were reported by 75% or more. Reporting of methods and results was often omitted: missing data (12.73%), sensitivity analyses (3.03%), flow diagram (15.15%), and absolute risk (0%). Logistic regression analysis indicated that funding support (OR=13.98, 95% CI=4.37-44.70) and more published papers during postgraduate period (OR=2.77, 95% CI=1.02-7.54) were related to high reporting quality. Conclusion In short, the reporting quality of observational studies in MPH’s dissertations in China is suboptimal. However, it’s necessary to improve the reporting of method and results sections. We recommend that authors should be stricter to adhere STROBE statement when conducting observational studies.