UMC Utrecht Prediction Meetings

Spin is a frequent phenomenon in articles published in scientific journals and it is defined as any strategy, intentionally or unintentionally, that leads to a distorted interpretation of study results, usually emphasizing more favorable findings. A randomized controlled trial demonstrated that spin could modify a reader’s interpretation of study results and consequently, decision-making. Inaccurate interpretation of study results might have negative implications in clinical practice, guideline development, policy decision-making, and funding of further research. However, neither the extent of spin nor its implications are well understood within prediction modelling research. We have developed a framework to identify and classify potential misleading strategies in prediction model studies. Besides linguistic spin and incomplete reporting, the framework also focusses on unreliable statistical analysis as one of the misleading strategies that could facilitate spin. Therefore, we would like to invite statisticians to join the discussion.