Background With the increased encouragement of evidence-based medicine, case reports (CRs) are gradually sidelined and assumed to have minimal impact on the management of patients. In the field of rheumatology (R) CRs are generally published in several journals of the specialty while most major journals restrict or do not accept CRs because they may lower journal's impact factor. There are no studies to date assessing the magnitude and the focus of the CRs published in R literature. Objectives The aims of this study were to investigate the proportion and the topic of the CRs published in major R journals. Methods All CRs published in 6 major English language R journals (Rheumatology – Rheum, Journal of Rheumatology – JR, Clinical Experimental Rheumatology – CER, Rheumatology International – RI, Arthritis and Rheumatism – AR, Journal of Clinical Rheumatology - JCR) from January 2007 to December 2011 were searched manually by the authors. The number, percentage (according to the total number of articles published in each issue of the journal), and the main category of the CRs as well as their relation to the individual journal and publication year were analyzed. Results Total 1357 CRs were analyzed. Twelve percent of all articles published in R journals between 2007–2011 were CRs. The highest percentage of CRs was published in JCR (56.4%), while AR had the lowest percentage (0.05%) of CRs. There was no statistically significant change in the proportion of CRs published within 5-year period (Fig. 1). Case reports reporting rare condition, new and unique treatment, and unusual presentation of a common disease were more likely to be published (Table 1). Figure 1 Table 1. Categories of case reports N/(%) A B C D E F G H J K Rheumatology 28 (16) 31 (18) 11 (6) 17 (10) 8 (5) 5 (3) 16 (9) 36 (21) 0 (0) 22 (13) J Rheum 28 (13) 41 (19) 16 (8) 19 (9) 13 (6) 3 (1) 27 (13) 32 (15) 0 (0) 32 (15) CER 24 (18) 25 (19) 15 (12) 9 (7) 1 (1) 0 (0) 12 (9) 25 (19) 0 (0) 18 (14) Rheum. Int 1 (0) 67 (15) 121 (27) 89 (20) 55 (12) 5 (1) 31 (7) 50 (11) 0 (0) 22 (5) Arth & Rheum 2 (17) 4 (33) 0 (0) 0 (0) 0 (0) 0 (0) 0 (0) 5 (42) 0 (0) 1 (8) J Clin Rheum 3 (1) 85 (22) 75 (19) 29 (7) 64 (16) 13 (3) 45 (12) 42 (11) 3 (1) 29 (7) Total 86 (11) 253 (21) 238 (12) 163 (9) 141 (7) 26 (1) 131 (8) 190 (20) 3 (0) 124 (10) A: Totally original condition/new disease; B: Rare and previously sparsely reported condition; C: Unusual presentation of a common disease; D: Unexpected association bw 2 uncommon symptoms/signs; E: Impact of one disease process on another; F: Unexpected event in the course of treating a patient; G: Unexpected complication of treatment or procedure; H: New and unique treatment; J: Confession of how things went wrong; K: Drug–drug interaction. Conclusions While the data is limited, the proportion of CRs published in R journals was comparable to the publication rates found in other specialties1,2. Despite the common belief regarding the decreased space for CRs in R journals, there seems to be no decreas...
Trauma is one of the most common surgical emergencies admitted in the acute care departments of hospitals in Guinea, West Africa. We carried a study to assess the epidemiological pattern and clinical care of neurotrauma in the emergency department of the Kindia regional hospital, a rural secondary hospital catering to the needs of western Guinea and nearby districts. Data were prospectively collected from December 2019 to March 2020 after receiving the required hospital authorization and informed consent from the patients or relatives. We recorded two hundred cases of neurotraumas (64.5% of traumatic brain injury cases and 14.5% of spinal cord injury). Neurotraumas represented 17.7% of all admitted patients in the department in the study period. The mean age was 25.34 ± 16.73, and the age range 16 to 30 was the most affected. The predominance was male, with a sex ratio of 3.43. Motor Vehicle Accident was the leading cause 68.5%, and 73.2% of them involved a motorcycle. Motorcycle-to-motorcycle collision was responsible for more than a third of neurotraumas. We classified the majority of the cases as mild and low risk neurotrauma representing 62.08%. All patients benefited from medical treatment, and 30.7% of patients received surgical treatment for associated abdominal, orthopedic, and minor procedures for scalp dilacerations. No patient was referred to a Neurosurgery department, and all living patients were discharged home during the study period with minimal disability. The mortality was 16.3%. Our results could be biased by the lack of interhospital networking and the fact that severe traumatic brain-injured patient dies before seeking medical attention.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.
hi@scite.ai
10624 S. Eastern Ave., Ste. A-614
Henderson, NV 89052, USA
Copyright © 2024 scite LLC. All rights reserved.
Made with 💙 for researchers
Part of the Research Solutions Family.