A cross-sectional analysis of research waste in randomized controlled trials on postoperative cognitive dysfunction
Jiyang Li, Xinxing Fei, Qiuyu Zhou, Weiyi Li, Zhangyu Xu, Jianxiong Wang, Yaqian Gao, Yue Hu · 2026
Read A cross-sectional analysis of research waste in randomized controlled trials on postoperative cognitive dysfunction by Jiyang Li, Xinxing Fei, Qiuyu Zhou, Weiyi Li, Zhangyu Xu, Jianxiong Wang, Yaqian Gao, Yue Hu (2026) in the Tower of Babel, a free online library of public-domain works preserved in clean, searchable text. No sign-up. The full text is served as a plain-text file at a predictable URL, where text is present: https://antarctic-labs.com/tower-of-babel/pmc-13438811.txt.
Description
Jiyang Li's team audited research waste in 2026 among randomized trials of postoperative cognitive dysfunction, a common complication in older surgical patients. Heterogeneity in this field hinted at waste, but no systematic count existed. Registered trials since 2000 with cognitive outcomes were pulled from ClinicalTrials.gov, and publication, reporting quality, and design flaws were scored for fifty-three trials.
Only seven of forty-three completed trials by 2023 were published, reporting was generally good yet over forty percent had design flaws, and waste reached about ninety-one percent, highest for Asian-origin trials. Larger, multicenter trials trended toward less waste without reaching significance. Trial funders get a stark efficiency audit and a case for registration, reporting, and publication standards.
Catalog record
| CREATOR | Jiyang Li, Xinxing Fei, Qiuyu Zhou, Weiyi Li, Zhangyu Xu, Jianxiong Wang, Yaqian Gao, Yue Hu |
|---|---|
| YEAR | 2026 |
| COLLECTION | PAPERS |
| FORMAT | TXT |
| FILE SIZE | 31 KB |
| VERSION | 1.0 |
| LICENSE | CC BY 4.0 |
| RIGHTS | CC BY |
| SOURCE | Europe PMC |