Results

Sadeghi Ramin, MDNuclear Medicine Research

Center,Mashhad University of Medical

Sciences

Results

This is the easiest part to prepare Use Figures and Tables as much as

you can

Structure of result section Descriptive data

Describe your patients regarding various baseline variables

Age, Gender, etc. You can use Tables to give these information in a

compact way If you have several groups which are of

importance (case and controls) mention how comparable are these groups regarding the independent variables

Structure of result section Descriptive data

If you have a small sample refer to the patients as Number 1 or 2, etc.

Baseline characteristics Age, gender, Height, etc

Outcome variables Survival, detection rate, FBS, etc

For categorical variables use percentage and for continuous variables use mean±SD

Remember to give the exact number of patients instead of percentage alone

Mention the dropped out patients and the cause of that

Structure of results section

Analytic data Mention if the groups of your study

are or are not statistically different regarding your main variables you want to measure (for example survival in case and controls, FBS after a new drug consumption in case and controls, etc).

Structure of results section Analytic data

Start with simple univariate analysis an go on to multivariate one

If the variables are too many use Tables and figure

Tables if you want to give exact values Figures if the exact values are not that important

Do not duplicate the tables data in the text Text, tables, and figures should complement

each other

Tables

Always refer to the information for authors section of the journal

Use them for Summarizing the data Instead of text

For case series

Tables

Title Should be interpretable by its own The reader should not be required to

refer to text for understanding the table.

Give the unnecessary details (such as dose, abbreviations, etc in the footnote of the table)

Tables

Usually the first column has the heading of each row

The first row has the heading for each column

Identify the groups completely do not use group A, B, etc

Tables Always cite the table in the text Do not use vertical lines Identify statistically significant p-

values by * Use enough distance between

columns and rows Sometimes percentage can also be

used in the tables

Tables

No empty cell should be present Use – or some other symbol for these

cells and give the reason why they are empty in the footnote

Identify the order of footnotes by *,†,‡,§,║,¶ Use the insert symbol command of the word

Types of tables

Tables listing some information For example the inclusion and

exclusion criteria

Types of tables

Tables giving the characteristics of the patients

Types of tables

Tables giving comparisons between some groups

Group work

• Design the table shown on the wall yourself using your computer

Figures

Very useful for conveying some notions

Very time consuming Refer to the information for

authors of the journal

Figure

Figure legends Number the figures consequently and

always cite them in the text Explain the different parts of the figure

(top, bottom, arrows, hollow arrows, etc) You should have informed consent from

a patient if you want to use his/her name Cover the eyes or blur them

Types of figures

Photos Patients, radiographies, etc. Some radiographies are digital such

as nuclear medicine images, CT, MRI, etc

Use these digital photos

Types of figures

Diagrams To show sampling, patients follow up,

pedigree, etc. Can be designed by word or

powerpoint

Types of figures

Charts Scatter plots Bar charts Box plots Line charts

Scatter plots

Used to show the correlation between two variables

Box plots

If you want to give mean and confidence intervals of several groups for comparison

Bar charts

To give several groups and subgroups for comparison

Some tips

Use the horizontal axis for independent and vertical axis for dependent variable

Give each axis a name and its unit of measurement

Always use your computer to prepare your figures if you could

Permission for reproducing figures and tables

Get the permission from the copyright holder This is usually the publisher

Sometimes you can e.mail the responsible person in this regard.

Group work

• Ask for permission to reproduce and image from a publisher