Do abstracts of articles in major journals contain the same information as the body of the paper?

摘要

What is this study about?Mark: This study reviewed all 114 randomized controlled trials of chemotherapy for lung cancer conducted between 2004 and 2009. The authors searched Medline, EMBASE, and the Cochrane database using the terms lung neoplasm, lung cancer, lung tumor, and lung carcinoma. They looked at the conclusions in the abstract vs. the conclusions in the body of the paper. English-language, phase III (clinical) trials that evaluated only chemotherapy treatment were included in the final analysis.One author collected all of the data using a structured data sheet; 60 of the 114 papers were scored a second time by two researchers to ensure the reliability of scoring. Using a previously developed scale, the conclusions in the abstracts were assigned to one of seven levels, ranging from "standard of care significantly better" to "new treatment significantly better."1 The same scale was applied to the conclusions in the body of the papers. If the difference between a conclusion in the abstract and that in the body was two levels or greater, the conclusions were considered different.