Evolution of Abstracts presented at the Annual Scientific Meetings of Academic Emergency Medicine

There has been a general trend in medicine towards greater sophistication i n research design. In order to assess this trend in emergency medicine we c ompared the characteristics of abstracts presented at the 1974, 1983, 1989, and 1997 annual scientific meetings of academic emergency medicine. All 87 0 abstracts were reviewed by 1 of 3 investigators who determined research d esign attributes using a standardized classification scheme that has good i nterrater reliability Over the last 25 years the following trends were note d: more surveys (0% v1% v3% v8%, P = 0.002), more randomized studies (OK v1 0% v12% v15%, P = 0.05), and more blinded studies (0% v 7% v 5% v 11%, P = 0.01). Tests of statistical significance were reported with increasing freq uency (8% v 26% v 59% v 69%, P < 0.001) as were power calculations (0% v 0% v1% v 3%, P = 0.02). During the study period there were also increases in the median number of authors, proportion of foreign lead authors, and the p roportion of studies involving human subjects. These results reflect consid erable improvement in the degree of research design sophistication reported in selected abstracts of academic emergency medicine over the study period . Further strategies to assure continued enhancement of emergency medicine research should be explored. (Am J Emerg Med 1999;17:638 641. Copyright (C) 1999 by W.B. Saunders Company).