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Features of registered clinical trials and associated papers on physical activity involving people with spinal cord injury

Spinal Cord volume 63, pages 444–446 (2025)Cite this article

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Abstract

Clinical recommendations are typically developed based on published data. However, if not all data are published this may influence the accuracy and effectiveness of recommendations. We examined whether failure to publish clinical trial data is a problem in physical activity (PA) research involving people with spinal cord injury (SCI). This article reports features of 102 PA trials registered on ClinicalTrials.gov including participants with SCI, of which 63% had associated papers. Target enrolment was achieved in 41% of published trials and 85% of participants enrolled completed trials. Only 60% of papers stated hypotheses, of which 76% were supported. We discuss why ~2/5 trials remain unpublished, whether researcher prefer to ‘file-drawer’ negative findings, and/or editors/reviewers look favourably on positive findings. We stress the importance of transparently reporting all results from SCI-PA studies regardless of positive/negative directionality and raise concern regarding the influence of publication biases and selective data reporting on clinical recommendations.

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Fig. 1: Search strategy and trial features.

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The datasets generated and/or analysed during the current study are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. International Collaboration on Repair Discoveries (ICORD), University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC, Canada

    Cameron M. Gee & Kendra R. Todd

  2. Department of Orthopaedics, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC, Canada

    Cameron M. Gee

Authors
  1. Cameron M. Gee
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  2. Kendra R. Todd
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Contributions

CMG and KRT conceived of and designed the work that led to submission, acquired data, interpreted results, and drafted the manuscript for important intellectual content. Both authors approved the final version and agree to be accountable for all aspects of the work in ensuring that questions related to the accuracy or integrity of any part of the work are appropriately investigated and resolved.

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Correspondence to Cameron M. Gee.

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Gee, C.M., Todd, K.R. Features of registered clinical trials and associated papers on physical activity involving people with spinal cord injury. Spinal Cord 63, 444–446 (2025). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41393-025-01101-0

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