CARE(CAse REport) 지침에 의거한 척추신경추나의학회지 증례보고의 질 평가 연구

A Quality Evaluation Study of Case Reports in the Journal of Korea CHUNA Manual Medicine for Spine & Nerves According to the CARE(CAse REport) Guidelines

Objectives A case report is a detailed medical description of previously unreported observations or complications of medical conditions, unique use cases of tests, or new side effects. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the quality of case reports published in the Journal of Korea CHUNA Manual Medicine for Spine & Nerves (JKCMSN). Methods Case reports published in the JKCMSN from January 2013 to December 2020 were selected using the Oriental Medicine Advanced Searching Integrated System (OASIS). The quality of the reports was assessed based on the Consensusbased Clinical Case Reporting Guideline Development (CARE) guidelines. Results Sixty case reports that met the inclusion criteria were included in the assessment. Our analysis revealed that 71.42% of the case reports included all the necessary information and their level of reporting was good. However, their scores in the qualitative subdivisions of the reporting level parameters showed that the quality level was uneven. More than 65% of the papers did not report in the following categories: “Keywords,” “Patient information,” “Timeline,” “Diagnostic assessment,” “Therapeutic interventions,” “Follow-up and outcomes,” “Patient perspective,” and “Informed consent.” Conclusions Our analysis shows that CARE guidelines need to be followed more rigorously to improve the quality of reporting in the JKCMSN. Further efforts are necessary to develop reporting guidelines and evaluation tools relevant to the Korean clinical context.