Prof. Xu Chang, a high-level talent (recruited by our university) of the Key Laboratory of Birth Population’s Health (Anhui Medical University), the Ministry of Education, and his team, have recently published a research paper entitled Validity of data extraction in evidence synthesis practice of adverse events: reproducibility study in the British Medical Journal (BMJ) (IF=39.89), one of the top journals in clinical medicine. Prof. Xu Chang is the first author of the paper and Anhui Medical University is the first author affiliation.
This research is the first large-scale empirical study of the data correctness of evidence synthesis studies on safety evaluation of medical interventions and its potential impact on outcomes. It has revealed the mechanisms by which data extraction errors occur for the first time and proposed a framework for classifying data errors according to the relevant mechanisms, which provides an important theoretical basis for improving the correctness of data extraction. It is also learned that Prof. Xu Chang’s team will follow up with more in-depth researches based on the above classification framework and theoretical basis, including leading the preparation of an international guideline, the development of an automated data extraction tool, and the evaluation of the safety of medications for children.
Paper Link: https://www.bmj.com/content/377/bmj-2021-069155