ITEM 14. Report when study was done, including beginning and ending dates of recruitment.
Example
We retrospectively screened all blood cultures from patients on an oncology ward at New England Medical Center, a 300-bed tertiary care university-affiliated hospital, between August 1994 and June 1996.[1]
The technology behind many tests advances continuously, leading to improvements in diagnostic accuracy. There may be a considerable gap between the dates of the study and the publication date of the study report. Readers will therefore want to know the dates during which a study was conducted. This information may also provide an indication about the rate of recruitment.
References
| 1. |
DesJardin JA, Falagas ME, Ruthazer R, et al. Clinical utility of blood cultures drawn from indwelling central venous catheters in hospitalized patients with cancer. Ann Intern Med 1999; 131:641-7. |