Completeness of Reporting in Abstracts of Randomized Controlled Trials Assessing Interventional Radiology for Liver Disease

Purpose: To assess the completeness of reporting in abstracts of published randomized controlled trials (RCTs) assessing interventional radiology (IR) for liver disease; to assess whether publication of the 2017 CONSORT update for nonpharmacologic treatments (NPTs) resulted in changes in abstract reporting; and to identify factors associated with better reporting.Materials and Methods: MEDLINE and Embase were searched to identify RCTs of IR for liver disease (January 2015 to September 2020). Two reviewers assessed the completeness of abstract reporting according to the CONSORT-NPT-2017update. The primary outcome was the mean number of CONSORT items completely reported among 10 items reported in <50% of the abstracts published in 2015. A time series analysis assessed the evolution trend over time. Moreover, a multivariate regression model was used to identify factors associated with better reporting.Results: A total of 107 abstracts of RCTs published in 61 journals were included. Overall, 74% (45/61) of journals endorsed the main CONSORT guidelines, of which 60% (27/45) had a policy to implement them. The mean number of primary outcome items completely reported increased by 0.19 over the study period. The publication of the CONSORT-NPT update did not lead to an increase in the trend of items reported (increase of 0.04 items/month before vs 0.02 after; P = .41). Factors associated with more complete reporting were impact factor (OR = 1.13; 95% CI: 1.07-1.18) and endorsement of CONSORT with an implementation policy (OR = 8.29; 95% CI: 2.04-33.65).Conclusions: Completeness of reporting is incomplete in abstracts of trials of IR liver disease and did not improve after publication of the CONSORT-NPT-2017 update with abstract guidance.