PURPOSE: In Korea, many clinical trials have been published in medical journals. However, there has yet to be a study focusing on the scientific competence of the planning, execution and result interpretation of these reports. Therefore, this paper analyzed the clinical trials in the Journal of Korean Cancer Association for the last 10 years.
MATERIALS AND METHODS: All the clinical trials were analyzed according to the characteristics of clinical trial, disease, types and goals of treatment, The prospective studies were analyzed according to the competence of objectives, methods, results, and conclusion section.
Clinical trials of surgical treatment were excluded from this study.
RESULTS: A total 223 (20.6%) out of 1,0S2 papers were reports of clinical trials. Of all the elinical trials, phase II, prospective, and single center studies were most common.
Among 157 studies (70.4%) that were prospective, 29 studies (18.5%) did not clearly define eligibility criteria. The most common defect in the results was the lack of patients for the analysis (68 trials, 43.3%), and the median size of the trial was 30 patients. Statistical errors were found in 38 trials (24.3%).
CONCLUSION: A lot of clinical trials reported in the Journal of Korean Cancer Association need to be improved in tenns of quality. Also, the editors should review the submitted reports more thoroughly.
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