STROBE Checklist

Scope: STrengthening the Reporting of OBservational studies in Epidemiology.

Reference: See source/archetypes/strobe-2007.yml for canonical link and provenance.

Instructions

• Use the boxes to confirm each reporting item.
• Add reviewer notes under each section as needed.

Title and abstract

• 1. Title and abstract: Indicate the study’s design with a commonly used term in the title or the abstract.

Introduction

• 2. Background/rationale: Explain the scientific background and rationale for the investigation being reported.
• 3. Objectives: State specific objectives, including any prespecified hypotheses.

Methods

• 4. Study design: Present key elements of study design early in the paper.
• 5. Setting: Describe the setting, locations, and relevant dates, including periods of recruitment, exposure, follow-up, and data collection.
• 6. Participants: Give the eligibility criteria, and the sources and methods of selection of participants.
• 7. Variables: Clearly define all outcomes, exposures, predictors, potential confounders, and effect modifiers. Give diagnostic criteria, if applicable.
• 8. Data sources/ measurement: For each variable of interest, give sources of data and details of methods of assessment (measurement).
• 9. Bias: Describe any efforts to address potential sources of bias.
• 10. Study size: Explain how the study size was arrived at.
• 11. Quantitative variables: Explain how quantitative variables were handled in the analyses. If applicable, describe which groupings were chosen and why.
• 12. Statistical methods: Describe all statistical methods, including those used to control for confounding.

Results

• 13. Participants: Report numbers of individuals at each stage of study—eg, numbers potentially eligible, examined for eligibility, confirmed eligible, included in the study, completing follow-up, and analysed.
• 14. Descriptive data: Give characteristics of study participants (eg, demographic, clinical, social) and information on exposures and potential confounders.
• 15. Outcome data: Report numbers of outcome events or summary measures over time.
• 16. Main results: Give unadjusted estimates and, if applicable, confounder-adjusted estimates and their precision (eg, 95% confidence interval). Make clear which confounders were adjusted for and why they were included.
• 17. Other analyses: Report other analyses done—eg, analyses of subgroups and interactions, and sensitivity analyses.

Discussion

• 18. Key results: Summarise key results with reference to study objectives.
• 19. Limitations: Discuss limitations of the study, taking into account sources of potential bias or imprecision. Discuss both direction and magnitude of any potential bias.
• 20. Interpretation: Give a cautious overall interpretation of results considering objectives, limitations, multiplicity of analyses, results from similar studies, and other relevant evidence.
• 21. Generalisability: Discuss the generalisability (external validity) of the study results.

Other information

• 22. Funding: Give the source of funding and the role of the funders for the present study and, if applicable, for the original study on which the present article is based.

Notes

Reviewer notes

Provenance

• Source: See sidecar metadata in source/archetypes/strobe-2007.yml
• Version: 2007
• License: CC BY 4.0