Reporting quality of randomized controlled trials in otolaryngology: review of adherence to the CONSORT statement.

Background: Randomized controlled trials are the gold standard in medical and surgical research to assess the efficacy of therapeutic interventions. The reporting of these trials should be of high quality to allow readers' appropriate interpretation and application.

Methods: The objectives of our study were to assess the extent to which the recent Otolaryngology - Head and Neck Surgery (ORL-HNS) randomized control trials in the top nine journals and in the top Canadian journal comply with the Consolidated Standards of Reporting Trials (CONSORT) statement, and to identify the CONSORT items most in need of improvement.