Skip Navigation


American Journal of Epidemiology Advance Access originally published online on October 5, 2005
American Journal of Epidemiology 2005 162(10):1033; doi:10.1093/aje/kwi315
This Article
Right arrow Extract Freely available
Right arrow FREE Full Text (PDF) Freely available
Right arrow All Versions of this Article:
162/10/1033    most recent
kwi315v1
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Services
Right arrow Email this article to a friend
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Add to My Personal Archive
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrowRequest Permissions
Right arrow Disclaimer
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Tooth, L.
Right arrow Articles by Dobson, A.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
PubMed
Right arrow Articles by Tooth, L.
Right arrow Articles by Dobson, A.
Social Bookmarking
Add to CiteULike   Add to Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us  
What's this?

American Journal of Epidemiology Copyright © 2005 by the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health All rights reserved; printed in U.S.A.

Letter to the Editor

THE AUTHORS REPLY

Leigh Tooth, Robert Ware, Chris Bain, David Purdie and Annette Dobson

Longitudinal Studies Unit, School of Population Health, University of Queensland, Queensland, 4006 Australia

l.tooth{at}sph.uq.edu.au

We are pleasantly surprised to discover that our paper (1Go) has engendered comment (2Go, 3Go). Our goal was to contribute to debate and to the evolution of useful guidelines. We considered conjuring up an interim acronym, pre-STROBE (Strengthening the Reporting of Observational Studies in Epidemiology) if you will, but luckily we lacked inspiration.

We recognize that our list of reportables can be viewed as "informal" in light of the developmental philosophies of CONSORT (Consolidated Standards of Reporting Trials) and STROBE. However, it codifies our responses to the frustrations of trying to evaluate large volumes of indifferently reported prospective research. We emphasized the practical and the basic without laboring over theory, simply wanting readers to be able to grasp the essence of a study and its validity without too many unknowns. We do agree that there is particular merit to the CONSORT-type approach, where wide and influential consensus and well-articulated rationale gave powerful impetus to improve practice. Of course, interpretation of whatever is found needs to be firmly rooted in a coherent causal frame, but that is another paper.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

Conflict of interest: none declared.

References

  1. Tooth L, Ware R, Bain C, et al. Quality of reporting of observational longitudinal research. Am J Epidemiol 2005;161:280–8.[Abstract/Free Full Text]
  2. Des Jarlais DC, Lyles CM, Crepaz N. Re: "Quality of reporting of observational longitudinal research." (Letter). Am J Epidemiol 2005;162:1032.[Free Full Text]
  3. von Elm E, Altman DG, Pocock S, et al. Re: "Quality of reporting of observational longitudinal research." (Letter). Am J Epidemiol 2005;162:1032–3.[Free Full Text]

Add to CiteULike CiteULike   Add to Connotea Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us Del.icio.us    What's this?



This Article
Right arrow Extract Freely available
Right arrow FREE Full Text (PDF) Freely available
Right arrow All Versions of this Article:
162/10/1033    most recent
kwi315v1
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Services
Right arrow Email this article to a friend
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Add to My Personal Archive
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrowRequest Permissions
Right arrow Disclaimer
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Tooth, L.
Right arrow Articles by Dobson, A.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
PubMed
Right arrow Articles by Tooth, L.
Right arrow Articles by Dobson, A.
Social Bookmarking
Add to CiteULike   Add to Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us  
What's this?