Assessment of statistical methods used in Chilean medical literature Evaluación de utilización de los métodos estadísticos en la investigación en salud

Abstract

Background: Computer use has lead to a great development of statistical methods. Aim: To assess the use of statistical methods in Chilean medical literature. Methods: Two hundred sixty four papers appeared in Revista Médica de Chile and Revista Chilena de Pediatría between 1983 and 1993 were reviewed. Results: Student's "t", Fisher's, and χ2 test are the most frequently used statistical methods in 67% of papers. Correlation coefficients are used in 10% of papers. Multivariate methods are seldom used. Conclusions: Statistical analysis of papers published in Chilean medical journals is restricted to very few methods.