Missing information
The comprehensive and prospective registration of clinical trials has
been internationally supported since 2004 as a way to reduce the
selective publication of studies and the selective reporting of
outcomes.30 Since the early years of clinical trial
registration, ensuring that the registered data are complete and
accurate has been a challenging objective of multiple enforcement
mechanisms, including legal requirements.26, 30Remarkably, approximately one-third of the registered RCTs included in
this study had at least one piece of missing information, either related
to treatment dose, duration, timeframes of outcome assessment or the
lack of definition of a safety outcome. This is of particular concern
amid the current pandemic scenario where the rush to test any potential
helpful drug may pose a risk that low-quality evidence may be used to
support clinical decisions with unpredictable impacts to patients and
the health system.