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IJE Advance Access published online on June 25, 2007
International Journal of Epidemiology, doi:10.1093/ije/dym112
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Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the International Epidemiological Association © The Author 2007; all rights reserved.

Commentary: Assessing the quality of observational studies—or a lesson from Mars

Erik von Elm

Institute of Social and Preventive Medicine (ISPM), University of Bern, Finkenhubelweg 11, CH-3012 Bern, Switzerland.

E-mail: vonelm@ispm.unibe.ch

Keywords Observational study, quality assessment tool, checklist, quality of reporting

Accepted 25 April 2007

The first 10% of the full text of this article appears below.

In 1999, the Mars Climate Orbiter (MCO), a spacecraft full of sophisticated scientific instruments, was sent to our neighbouring planet to explore its atmosphere. On entering the Martian orbit, complex calculations had to be performed by teams in different countries in order to stabilize the trajectory of this first interplanetary weather satellite. But the MCO failed to reach its planned altitude and disappeared from the screens, most likely burned in the Martian atmosphere. During later examination, it turned out that one of the teams provided data essential for course correction in English units (Pound second) while . . . [Full Text of this Article]


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