Epidemiology in the Literature and Critical Review of Literature

Drug A and Drug B are both statins being compared to determine the incidence of diabetes. What are some examples of confounders in this situation?

(Demographic and clinical covariates): age, race and ethnicity, income, diet, exercise, etc

What are the strengths of using MeSH terms?

1. More efficient 2. Saves time and effort 3. Improves precision

What are the three general classifications of publication during the peer review process?

1. Publishable immediately 2. Publishable with major or minor revisions 3. Not publishable

Conclusions exclusively based on published studies can be misleading. Why?

1. Underreporting of negative results 2. Publication of deliberately falsified data

What are the key questions when collecting data?

1. What were the OBJECTIVES of the study? 2. What TYPE of study was conducted? 3. What was the primary EXPOSURE of interest? 4. What was the primary OUTCOME of interest?

When searching for terms in PUBMED, it is important to note that authors are typically limited to #____ to ____ key terms

3 to 5

After being rejected, where is the submitted article sent to during the peer review process?

Then sent to experts in the field of the paper who are generally asked to classify the paper as: 1. publishable immediately 2. publishable with major or minor revisions 3. not publishable

What is the key function of Peer Review?

To control the quality of published articles

When are editors allowed to reject submitted articles during the peer review process?

When articles are out of hand, either because they are "out of scope" or because of low quality

A retrospective cohort study compares Drug A and Drug B. The clinical trial of Drug A began in 1990 and ended in 2010. Drug B's trial started in 2000 and ended in 2010. What is the issue with this retrospective study?

You cannot compare the entirety of Drug A's trial to Drug B's trial, as the length of time is different. Instead, using survival analysis, you can compare the first ten years of Case A to Case B.

PUBMED, Web-based search engines, journal scans, other's bibliographies are all tools to help identify _________ references a. primary b. secondary c. tertiary

a --> primary

________ are original publications a. Primary literature b. Secondary literature c. Tertiary literature

a --> primary

Experts in the field of the paper are usually tasked with classifying the article as "publishable" or "non publishable". How many experts are usually assigned to this role? a. 1 b. 2 c. 5 d. 10+

b --> 2

Textbooks, edited works, books and articles that interpret or review research works, histories, biographies, literary criticism and interpretation, reviews of law and legislation, political analyses and commentaries are all examples of _________ a. Primary literature b. Secondary literature c. Tertiary literature

b --> secondary literature

_________ are typically indexing and abstracting systems. Summarize, interpret, analyze or comment on information found in primary sources. a. Primary literature b. Secondary literature c. Tertiary literature

b --> secondary literature *Note! I don't like this definition for secondary literature because you can also define TERTIARY sources as "abstract/index systems"... but that's what the slides say so that's what we're going with

Dictionaries/encyclopedias, almanacs, fact books, Wikipedia, bibliographies, directories, guidebooks, manuals, and handbooks are all examples of _________ a. Primary literature b. Secondary literature c. Tertiary literature

c --> tertiary

__________ provides an interpretation and summary of the primary literature a. Primary literature b. Secondary literature c. Tertiary literature

c --> tertiary

During the peer review process, "positive" results have a better chance of: a. Being published b. Earlier publication c. Publication in journals with higher impact factors d. All of the above

d --> AOTA

In a case-control study, _____ _____ _____ will identify the controls from a group of people who are 'at risk' at the index date of the case.

risk-set sampling

__________ focuses on two important pieces of information: Whether or not a participant suffers the event of interest during the study period (i.e., a dichotomous or indicator variable often coded as 1=event occurred or 0=event did not occur during the study observation period.

survival analysis

What is confounding?

Confounding is a distortion (inaccuracy) in the estimated measure of association that occurs when the primary exposure of interest is mixed up with some other factor that is associated with the outcome. ("Factor X" in the diagram)

Drugs with photosensitizing properties, drugs with suggested antineoplastic effects, comorbidities, and education level are all examples of ________

Covariates

"MI" "Heart Attack" and "Myocardial Infarction" are all official MeSH terms (T/F)

FALSE --> There are selected terms on the "official" MeSH list, with no other spellings, variations, or terminology. In this case, it would only be referred to as Myocardial Infarction

Usually the author is aware of the identify of the reviewer, and the reviewer of the author (T/F)

FALSE --> Usually the author does NOT know the identity of the reviewer, but the reviewer does know that of the author

The merit of the study can typically be ascertained from the information provided in the abstract (T/F)

FALSE --> do not evaluate the merit of the study based on the information provided in the abstract

Drug A and Drug B are both statins being compared to determine the incidence of diabetes. What is the outcome in this trial?

Incidence of diabetes

The _______ ______ is the initiation date of either the newer study drug or the older comparator drug.

Index date

the _______ search term are official words or phrases to represent particular biomedical concepts in PUBMED

MeSH search terms

A _________ study involves the selection of several healthy controls for each case, typically from those still under observation at the time when the case developed the disease

Nested Case-Control Study

__________ is the process of review of research proposals, manuscripts submitted for publication, abstracts submitted for presentation at scientific meetings, whereby these are judged for scientific and technical merit by other scientists in the same field

Peer Review

What is "Totality of Evidence"?

Regardless of study type, setting, or design, FDA does not evaluate one study only when making regulatory decisions. Instead, FDA uses a totality of evidence approach, examining all available evidence in the package including the quality of the studies and the clinical and regulatory contexts.

_________ are considered the "Gatekeepers of Science"

Reviewers

Drug A and Drug B are both statins being compared to determine the incidence of diabetes. What is the exposure in this trial?

Statin use

It is considered "poor practice" to rely on internet citations (T/F)

TRUE --> unless absolutely necessary