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A quality assessment of clinical research on type 2 diabetes in Saudi Arabia

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Abstract

Saudi Arabia has one of the highest prevalence of type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) worldwide. The aim of the current study was to analyze the research productivity in T2DM, specifically to characterize and quantify the research on T2DM. Data were extracted from studies published between 1987 and 2016 and indexed in PubMed. Study eligibility criteria included: (1) had a selected sample within Saudi Arabia, and (2) had T2DM as an outcome, or (3) included patients with T2DM as study participants, or (4) addressed healthcare management (including registries) of T2DM patients. Study characteristics were extracted from each study; examples included authorship (number and gender), journal, publication year, study location, research design, sample size, sample type (general or patient), sample composition (male or female), and sampling strategy (random or non-random). The overall number of publications on T2DM and the use of a hypothesis-testing design (i.e. case–control, cohort, or trial) increased over time. The majority of the studies (67%) used a hypothesis-generating design, with cross-sectional being the most frequently used (65%). Clinical trials constituted less than 5% of all studies (n = 7); among these trials, 29% used random assignment, 71% had two study arms, and 57% had a follow-up time of more than 6 months. The scientific literature from Saudi Arabia on T2DM has improved qualitatively over time, but there are still deficiencies. Future studies on T2DM should aim to run clinical trials more frequently, particularly in the area of prevention, given the high burden of disease in the population.

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Acknowledgements

The authors thank Omar Alminderej, Ziad Alhomidan, Mohamed Khaled AlJaser for their contribution to study identification. The authors thank Ms. Erin Strotheide for her editorial contributions to this manuscript.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. College of Medicine, Qassim University, Buraidah, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia

    Juliann Saquib

  2. College of Medicine, Sulaiman AlRajhi Colleges, PO Box 777, Al Bukairyah, Al-Qassim, 51941, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia

    Mohamed Saddik Zaghloul, AbdulRahman Mazrou & Nazmus Saquib

Authors
  1. Juliann Saquib
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  2. Mohamed Saddik Zaghloul
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  3. AbdulRahman Mazrou
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  4. Nazmus Saquib
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Contributions

NS had the original idea and JS helped with protocol development and search strategy. MS and NS abstracted data and JS arbitrated the discrepancies. JS, MS and NS performed the data analysis and drafted the manuscript. ARM and MS revised the draft. All authors approved its final version.

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Correspondence to Nazmus Saquib.

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The authors declare that they received no support from any organization for the submitted work and that they had no financial relationships with any organization that might have an interest in the submitted work.

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Saquib, J., Zaghloul, M.S., Mazrou, A. et al. A quality assessment of clinical research on type 2 diabetes in Saudi Arabia. Scientometrics 116, 2085–2096 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11192-018-2823-6

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