Analysis of spin in the reporting of studies of topical treatments of photoaged skin

Abstract Background Spin—reporting that distorts the interpretation of results—is not unusual within scientific literature. Objective To appraise strategies of spin among placebo-controlled double-blind clinical trials of topical treatments for photoaged skin. Methods A systematic review of literature was performed to identify placebo-controlled double-blind clinical trials of topical treatments for photoaged skin. A survey of spin strategies was developed and applied to the cohort of identified studies. Results Systematic review identified 20 studies, all of which employed various spin strategies, broadly classified as either inappropriate statistical analysis or inappropriate interpretation of results. Most commonly used strategies included use of multiple primary outcomes (95%), inappropriate extrapolation of the results from specific outcome to global improvement (95%), focus on within-group comparison (75%), and focus on interim analyses to give more weight to nonsignificant findings (65%). Limitations : Classification of spin strategies is subjective and may not encompass all methods used by studies in the published literature. Conclusions Findings in this study may inform efforts to reduce spin in the dermatologic literature.