scispace - formally typeset
Search or ask a question

Showing papers by "Peter C Gøtzsche published in 1989"


Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: Important design aspects were decreasingly reported in NSAID trials over the years, whereas the quality of statistical analysis improved, and it is not obvious how a reliable meta-analysis could be done in these trials.

322 citations


Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: Adherence to the manuscript guidelines published by the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors should diminish the risk of inflated meta-analyses, reference lists and curricula vitae, and inexplicable discrepancies in articles based on the same data.
Abstract: Fourty-four multiple publications of 31 comparative trials of nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs in rheumatoid arthritis were examined for mutual agreement. Thirty-two of the papers were published in the same language as the primary version. Important discrepancies were seen in 14 trials, involving description of the study design in two, exclusion of protocol violators in two, inconsistency in the number of effect variables in five, in the number of side-effects in five, and in the significance level in one. In three articles the conclusion became more favourable for the new drug with time. Only half of the trials had the same first author and number of authors. For six trials, multiple publication was difficult to detect. Adherence to the manuscript guidelines published by the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors should diminish the risk of inflated meta-analyses, reference lists and curricula vitae, and inexplicable discrepancies in articles based on the same data.

104 citations


Journal Article
TL;DR: Double-blind dose-response studies of aspirin, phenylbutazone, indomethacin, ibuprofen, naproxen, piroxicam, diclofenac, diflunisal, and tolfenamic acid showed an increase in effect obtained with the highest doses of the drugs, and as a general rule, NSAIDs should be used at the lower end of the recommended dose ranges.
Abstract: Double-blind dose-response studies of aspirin, phenylbutazone, indomethacin, ibuprofen, naproxen, piroxicam, diclofenac, diflunisal, and tolfenamic acid were reviewed, using pain and a combined effect measure as outcome variables. The increase in effect obtained with the highest doses of the drugs was small, and as a general rule, NSAIDs should be used at the lower end of the recommended dose ranges.

19 citations


Journal Article
TL;DR: A meta-analysis was done on grip strength, the most common variable in comparative NSAID trials: even the drug effect over placebo was less than what most rheumatologists considered of relevance.
Abstract: A meta-analysis was done on grip strength, the most common variable in comparative NSAID trials. The median grip strength was 133 mm Hg (SD 64). The drugs were better than placebo (11.9 mm Hg, confidence interval (CI): 8.9-14.9), but the full dose was not significantly superior to half the dose (3.5 mm Hg, CI: -1.4 to +8.4 mm Hg). The difference between new drugs and control drugs in 70 crossover trials was only 1.4 mm Hg (CI: -0.1 to +2.9). Significant results in favour of the new drug were claimed more often than expected (p less than 0.01), suggesting biased data analysis. Grip strength is a superfluous variable in comparative NSAID trials: even the drug effect over placebo was less than what most rheumatologists considered of relevance.

19 citations