When summarizing the data, always include measures of variability and the number of subjects. When presenting medians, describe also the range within parentheses, e.g., median age was 60 (35–70) years and when presenting means use standard deviation, e.g., mean age was 59 (SD 15) years. Present the frequencies for nominal data. Results from matched data should be presented in relevant form, e.g., the distribution of pairwise differences.
Hypothesis tests (p-values) should be used in combination with a defined effect size and when statistical power has been considered. Present p-values with real numbers if these are greater than 0.001 (1 digit except zeros), otherwise use ‘p < 0.001’. Do not use ‘ns’, ‘p > 0.05’ or asterisks. Use 95% confidence intervals in exploratory analyses and when estimating effects or differences.
Acta Orthopaedica 2008 - Last modified: 2010-08-08 - Webmaster: webmaster@actaorthop.org