Abstract
Background
The economic crisis has significantly altered the quality of life in Greece. The obvious negative impact on the offered social and health services has been adequately analysed. We aimed to determine whether the economic crisis has influenced the quantity and quality of Orthopaedic research in Greece, as mirrored from the papers presented at the annual meetings of Hellenic Association of Orthopaedic Surgery between the years 2008–2014.
Methods
The abstracts of the papers (oral and posters) presented in these meetings have been examined. Details regarding the department of origin were registered. We determined the level of evidence (according to the AAOS classification system), found the amount of papers that were published in PubMed journal and noted if a department of another country participated.
Results
Through the years 2008–2014 the papers concerning clinical and basic orthopaedic research that were presented were 146, 207, 304, 331, 318, 234 and 191 respectively. The percentage of those that were level 1 studies was approximately 2%, 3%, 2%, 3%, 2%, 4% and 4% respectively. The percentage of level 2 studies was 2%, 1%, 2%, 3%, 1%, 3% and 0%. Level 3 studies were the 10%, 9%, 7%, 7%, 7%, 9% and 6%. The percentage of level 4 studies was 75%, 74%, 60%, 59%, 61%, 65% and 64%. Level 5 studies were the 10%, 17%, 31%, 27%, 28%, 19% and 26%. Each year, the papers that were published in PubMed were 7%, 21%, 13%, 7%, 6%, 6% and 9%. A department of another country participated in 18%, 17%, 18%, 16%, 16%, 21% and 13% of the total of papers.
Conclusion
As the economic crisis deepens, the quantity of the presented papers has been reduced. More importantly, the percentage of level 1 and 2 studies has been remained steadily low. Also, we could remark a reduction on the published studies in PubMed journals. These results raise concerns about the potential impact of the crisis in the future.
Level of Evidence
IV
