Adherence to reporting guidelines in observational studies concerning exposure to persistent organic pollutants and effects on semen parameters

mainresultsandtheroleofchange: Although no significant differences were found between the overall degree of compliance with STROBE and SEMQUA (47.0+ 18.5% versus 43.1+ 11.6%), there were significant differences when only methodological aspects were considered (48.4+ 21.0% versus 39.5+ 17.4%; P , 0.001). We observed an increase over time in the degree of compliance, for SEMQUA (r ¼ 0.61 and P , 0.001) and STROBE (r ¼ 0.45 and P , 0.01). The papers that reported a negative effect of exposure to persistent pesticides on sperm concentration presented a lower level of compliance to SEMQUA (42.1+ 18.3% versus 57.6+ 14.2%; P , 0.01) and STROBE (40.2+ 10.3% versus 49.5+ 11.6%; P , 0.05) than those which recorded no such influence. The year of publication and the observed effect on sperm concentration were the only candidate variables included in the model of stepwise multiple regression model for the ‘degree of compliance’ variables of SEMQUA and STROBE.