Abstract:

ObjectiveTo assess the reporting quality of case reports published in seven journals of pediatrics included in Chinese Science Citation Database by the CARE (CAse REport) guidelines and to analyze its influencing factors. MethodsCase reports were retrieved in seven journals of pediatrics included in Chinese Science Citation Database from January 2010 to February 2016. Two reviewers independently screened the literatures, extracted data, and assessed the quality of included studies by the CARE guidelines with 17 items. The meta-analysis was performed by Stata12.0 software. ResultsTotal 797 case reports were included, the CARE guidelines checklist score ranged from 7 to 15 points, (±s) was (11.1±1.5) points. Among all studies, 36(6.0%) scored 17-21 points and were regarded as high quality; 638 (62.7%) scored 10 to 13 points, regarded as medium quality; and 123 (31.2%) scored less than 9 points, regarded as poor quality. The reporting rates less than 50% of the CARE guidelines items included following items: title, introduction, timeline,diagnostic challenges, prognostic characteristics, strengths and limitations of the management of the case and relevant medical literature. The results of stratified analysis showed that both the issue of the CARE guidelines and fund support could improve the reporting quality, the primary authors from class Ⅲ grade Ⅰ hospital or university hospital had no significant influence for reporting quality.ConclusionThe overall reporting quality of case reports published in the seven journals of pediatrics included in Chinese Science Citation Database is poor, and it is mostly influenced by the factors of fund support, the reasonable utilization of the CARE guidelines checklist will improve the reporting quality of case report.