December Virtual Journal Club – Formative SAQ Paper

Summarise the paper in 200 words.

What are the strengths of the study design?

The authors used “instrumental variable regression” to adjust for confounding factors. What is an instrumental variable?

Fluid balance was measured daily for a week and the on days 10, 14, 21, and 28.  What effect may this have on the interpretation of the results?

The X² test is used for comparison of categorical variables.  What is this test used for and what can the X² test otherwise be known as?

The odds ratio of the ordinal GOSE score worse outcome at 6 months for the adjusted positive and negative daily fluid balance is 1.04 and 0.99 respectively.  What does this mean?

Different methods of presenting categorical variable and continuous variable data were used; percentages or frequencies, and interquartile ranges respectively.  Why is this done and what is an example of a continuous and categorical variable in this study?

In figure 4A overall, which of the 4 regions had the least number of centres with high log odds of a worse ordinal GOSE at 6 months?  Which region had the least number of centres with a low log odds of a worse ordinal GOSE at 6 months?  What does this mean in real terms for those two regions?

What are the limitations of the study?