STROBE 2007 (v4) checklist of items to be included in reports of observtionl studies in epidemiolo!

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$hecklist for cohort% cse&control% nd cross&sectionl studies (combined)
Section'Topic
(tem
)
Recommendtion
Reported on
p!e )
Title nd bstrct 1 (a) Indcate the studys desgn wth a commony used term n the tte or the abstract
(b) Provde n the abstract an nformatve and baanced summary of what was done and what
was found
(ntroduction
Background/ratonae 2 Expan the scentc background and ratonae for the nvestgaton beng reported
Ob|ectves 3 State specc ob|ectves, ncudng any pre-speced hypotheses
*ethods
Study desgn 4 Present key eements of study desgn eary n the paper
Settng 5 Descrbe the settng, ocatons, and reevant dates, ncudng perods of recrutment, exposure,
foow-up, and data coecton
Partcpants 6 (a) Cohort study-Gve the egbty crtera, and the sources and methods of seecton of
partcpants. Descrbe methods of foow-up
Case-control study-Gve the egbty crtera, and the sources and methods of case
ascertanment and contro seecton. Gve the ratonae for the choce of cases and contros
Cross-sectional study-Gve the egbty crtera, and the sources and methods of seecton of
partcpants
(b) Cohort study-For matched studes, gve matchng crtera and number of exposed and
unexposed
Case-control study-For matched studes, gve matchng crtera and the number of contros
per case
Varabes 7 Ceary dene a outcomes, exposures, predctors, potenta confounders, and ehect moders.
Gve dagnostc crtera, f appcabe
Data sources/
measurement
8* For each varabe of nterest, gve sources of data and detas of methods of assessment
(measurement). Descrbe comparabty of assessment methods f there s more than one group
Bas 9 Descrbe any ehorts to address potenta sources of bas
Study sze 10 Expan how the study sze was arrved at
Ouanttatve varabes 11 Expan how quanttatve varabes were handed n the anayses. If appcabe, descrbe whch
groupngs were chosen and why
Statstca methods 12 (a) Descrbe a statstca methods, ncudng those used to contro for confoundng
(b) Descrbe any methods used to examne subgroups and nteractons
(c) Expan how mssng data were addressed
(d) Cohort study-If appcabe, expan how oss to foow-up was addressed
Case-control study-If appcabe, expan how matchng of cases and contros was addressed
Cross-sectional study-If appcabe, descrbe anaytca methods takng account of sampng
strategy
(e) Descrbe any senstvty anayses
Results
Partcpants 13* (a) Report numbers of ndvduas at each stage of study-eg numbers potentay egbe,
examned for egbty, conrmed egbe, ncuded n the study, competng foow-up, and
anaysed
(b) Gve reasons for non-partcpaton at each stage
(c) Consder use of a ow dagram
Descrptve data 14* (a) Gve characterstcs of study partcpants (eg demographc, cnca, soca) and nformaton
on exposures and potenta confounders
(b) Indcate number of partcpants wth mssng data for each varabe of nterest
(c) Cohort study-Summarse foow-up tme (eg, average and tota amount)
Outcome data 15* Cohort study-Report numbers of outcome events or summary measures over tme
Case-control studyReport numbers n each exposure category, or summary measures of
exposure
Cross-sectional studyReport numbers of outcome events or summary measures
Man resuts 16 (a) Gve unad|usted estmates and, f appcabe, confounder-ad|usted estmates and ther
precson (eg, 95% condence nterva). Make cear whch confounders were ad|usted for and
why they were ncuded
(b) Report category boundares when contnuous varabes were categorzed
(c) If reevant, consder transatng estmates of reatve rsk nto absoute rsk for a meanngfu
tme perod
Other anayses 17 Report other anayses done-eg anayses of subgroups and nteractons, and senstvty
anayses
+iscussion
Key resuts 18 Summarse key resuts wth reference to study ob|ectves
Lmtatons 19 Dscuss mtatons of the study, takng nto account sources of potenta bas or mprecson.
Dscuss both drecton and magntude of any potenta bas
Interpretaton 20 Gve a cautous overa nterpretaton of resuts consderng ob|ectves, mtatons, mutpcty
of anayses, resuts from smar studes, and other reevant evdence
Generasabty 21 Dscuss the generasabty (externa vadty) of the study resuts
Other informtion
Fundng 22 Gve the source of fundng and the roe of the funders for the present study and, f appcabe,
for the orgna study on whch the present artce s based
*Gve nformaton separatey for cases and contros n case-contro studes and, f appcabe, for exposed and unexposed groups n cohort and
cross-sectona studes.
,ote- An Expanaton and Eaboraton artce dscusses each checkst tem and gves methodoogca background and pubshed exampes of
transparent reportng. The STROBE checkst s best used n con|uncton wth ths artce (freey avaabe on the Web stes of PLoS Medcne at
http://www.posmedcne.org/, Annas of Interna Medcne at http://www.annas.org/, and Epdemoogy at http://www.epdem.com/). Informaton
on the STROBE Intatve s avaabe at www.strobe-statement.org.