RT Book, Section A1 White, Susan E. SR Print(0) ID 1176053833 T1 Reading the Medical Literature T2 Basic & Clinical Biostatistics, 5e YR 2020 FD 2020 PB McGraw-Hill Education PP New York, NY SN 9781260455366 LK accessmedicine.mhmedical.com/content.aspx?aid=1176053833 RD 2024/03/28 AB This final chapter has several purposes. Most importantly, it ties together concepts and skills presented in previous chapters and applies these concepts very specifically to reading medical journal articles. Throughout the text, we have attempted to illustrate the strengths and weaknesses of some of the studies discussed, but this chapter focuses specifically on those attributes of a study that indicate whether we, as readers of the medical literature, can use the results with confidence. The chapter begins with a brief summary of major types of medical studies. Next, we examine the anatomy of a typical journal article in detail, and we discuss the contents of each component—abstract or summary, introduction, methods, results, discussion, and conclusions. In this examination, we also point out common shortcomings, sources of bias, and threats to the validity of studies.