Background: Although much medical knowledge comes from observational research, such studies are more prone to confounding and bias than others. This study was conducted to evaluate the adherence of the observational studies published in Iranian medical journals to the STROBE (strengthening the reporting of observational studies in epidemiology) statement. Methods: In this cross-sectional study, we selected 150 articles of Iranian medical journals, using multistage sampling from Aug 2016 to Jun 2017. The reported items of the STROBE statement in the articles was determined and considered as the adherence of the articles to the statement. The adherence of the articles with different characteristics was compared. Results: The adherence of the articles to the statement varied from 24% to 68% with a mean score of 48%±9%. The lowest mean scores were found in the Result (36%) and Method (49%) sections. The adherence was significantly better in the articles published in the journals indexed in PubMed or Web of Knowledge (ISI) databases (P<0.001) and those written by cooperation of the authors from other countries (P=0.044). Conclusion: The evaluated articles in our study had not adequately reported the items recommended by the STROBE statement. This indicates deficiency in key elements for readers to assess the validity and applicability of a study.

中文翻译：

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遵守在伊朗医学期刊上发表的观察性研究声明中加强流行病学观察性研究的报告

背景：尽管许多医学知识来自观察性研究，但此类研究比其他研究更容易产生混淆和偏见。本研究旨在评估伊朗医学期刊上发表的观察性研究对 STROBE（加强流行病学观察性研究报告）声明的遵守情况。方法：在这项横断面研究中，我们选择了 2016 年 8 月至 2017 年 6 月的 150 篇伊朗医学期刊文章，采用多阶段抽样方法，确定文章中 STROBE 声明的报告项目，并将其视为文章对陈述。比较具有不同特征的文章的依从性。结果：文章对声明的依从性从 24% 到 68% 不等，平均得分为 48%±9%。结果（36%）和方法（49%）部分的平均分最低。发表在 PubMed 或 Web of Knowledge (ISI) 数据库索引期刊上的文章（P<0.001）和其他国家作者合作撰写的文章（P=0.044）的依从性明显更好。结论：我们研究中的评估文章没有充分报告 STROBE 声明推荐的项目。这表明读者缺乏关键要素来评估研究的有效性和适用性。我们研究中的评估文章没有充分报告 STROBE 声明推荐的项目。这表明读者缺乏关键要素来评估研究的有效性和适用性。我们研究中的评估文章没有充分报告 STROBE 声明推荐的项目。这表明读者缺乏关键要素来评估研究的有效性和适用性。