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The Journal of Bone and Joint Surgery 81:142 (1999)
© 1999 The Journal of Bone and Joint Surgery, Inc.

Correspondence

Correspondence

Marc F. Swiontkowski, M.D., J. Scott Smith, M.D. and Hugh G. Watts, M.D.

TO THE EDITOR:

I read with interest "Current Concepts Review. Methods for Locating Missing Patients for the Purpose of Long-Term Clinical Studies" (80-A: 431–438, March 1998), by Smith and Watts. The authors went to great lengths to provide the readership with a comprehensive analysis of the sources of information used to locate missing patients. I write to raise two related issues.

The authors stated: "In order for an investigator to evaluate the effectiveness of a medical treatment over the long term, patients must be located, interviewed, and often examined." The word investigator implies an individual who has carefully thought out the rationale for, and the specific hypotheses to be addressed by, a long-term clinical or functional outcome study. This responsibility, in my mind, . . . [Full Text of this Article]


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