Researcher Donna D. Ohnmeiss, DrMed, analyzed studies published on the international website ClinicalTrials.gov and found the website had a nearly 39% publication rate for spine-related studies.
Ohnmeiss conducted multiple searches on ClinicalTrials.gov to find studies related to commonly treated spinal conditions, such as stenosis and degenerative disc disease, and identified 263 spine-related studies. A total of 72 were classified as complete, 70 were active but not recruiting and 21 were posted before initiation or shortly thereafter, according to Ohnmeiss. Of the remaining studies, 74 were recruiting, 11 were recruiting by invitation, 13 were not yet recruiting, 18 were terminated, four were withdrawn and one was suspended.
Of the studies classified as complete, Ohnmeiss found 28 (38.9%) had been published, with a mean time of 27.9 months from the time of study completion to publication. This rate was similar to the 22.8% publication rate for arthroplasty trials and 43.2% for orthopedic trauma trials reported by other studies, according to Ohnmeiss. 