how to report patient ages in study

by Jayce Kassulke 6 min read

Describing the participants in a study | Age and Ageing

30 hours ago Age should be reported as part of the description of participants in the paper’s Method section. Be specific in providing age ranges, means, and medians. Avoid open-ended definitions such as “under 18 years” or “over 65 years,” unless referring, for … >> Go To The Portal


Age should be reported as part of the description of participants in the paper’s Method section. Be specific in providing age ranges, means, and medians. Avoid open-ended definitions such as “under 18 years” or “over 65 years,” unless referring, for instance, to broad research study eligibility criteria.

Full Answer

What is the importance of age in medical research?

Age plays an important role in medicine and medical research, being an important factor when considering phenotypic changes in health and disease. A patient’s age can affect the course and progression of a disease (Diamond et al. 1989; Hasenclever and Diehl 1998) or can be important in determining the correct course of treatment (Vecht 1993).

How do you define age in a research paper?

Be specific in providing age ranges, means, and medians. Avoid open-ended definitions such as “under 18 years” or “over 65 years,” unless referring, for instance, to broad research study eligibility criteria. This guidance has been expanded from the 6th edition.

How to do age-based research?

This method involves creating specific age categories and placing ages within a range in these categories. For instance, you can create age categories like 1–10, 21–30, 5–9. As you would notice, these ranges are in 5s and 10s. 3. Use Correlational Questions A correlational question shows the relationship between two variables in a research context.

What should I report on participants in a research study?

If the study invited only participants with certain characteristics, report this, too. For example, tell readers if the participants all had autism, were left-handed, or had participated in sports within the past year. Next, use your judgment to identify other pieces of information that are relevant to the study.

How do I report age in study?

Age should be reported as part of the description of participants in the paper's Method section. Be specific in providing age ranges, means, and medians. Avoid open-ended definitions such as “under 18 years” or “over 65 years,” unless referring, for instance, to broad research study eligibility criteria.

How do you categorize age groups in research?

Appropriate classifications of the age group for risk stratification are 0–14 years old (pediatric group), 15–47 years old (young group), 48–63 years old (middle age group) and ≥ 64 years old (elderly group).

How do you describe age distribution?

Definition: Age distribution is a quantitative description of how certain population group is divided according to how old they are. It is a method employed by researchers to classify a group of people by their age.

How do you describe participants in a study?

The “Participants” subsection should be fairly short and should tell readers about the population pool, how many participants were included in the study sample, and what kind of sample they represent, such as random, snowball, etc.

How do you present age data?

Histograms are the standard way to display age demographic data and are great for all kinds of distributions.

What are the 5 age groups?

Age group [age_group]Newborn [newborn] Up to 3 months old. Newborn sizes are often identified by the age range in months (0–3) or just “newborn.”Infant [infant] 3–12 months old. ... Toddler [toddler] 1–5 years old. ... Kids [kids] 5–13 years old. ... Adult [adult] Typically teens or older.

What are different age groups called?

Generations defined by name, birth year, and ages in 2022BornAgesGen Z1997 – 201210 – 25Millennials1981 – 199626 – 41Gen X1965 – 198042 – 57Boomers II*1955 – 196458 – 673 more rows•Apr 20, 2022

What are the three age groups of population?

It is common in demography to split the population into three broad age groups: children and young adolescents (under 15 years old) the working-age population (15-64 years) and. the elderly population (65 years and older).

How do you report participants in a study?

Use the active voice to describe your actions and the actions of participants; the passive voice suggests individuals are acted upon instead of being actors (e.g., “the subjects completed the trial” and “we collected data from the participants” are preferable to “the trial was completed by the subjects” and “the ...

How do you write participants in methodology?

Participants. In this part of the method section, you should describe the participants in your experiment, including who they were (and any unique features that set them apart from the general population), how many there were, and how they were selected.

How do you write a study population?

To summarize, the Sample section should include:Number of participants broken down by major demographic characteristics (e.g., age, grade, gender, race, language, socioeconomic status) and the number of participants assigned to groups or treatments.Describe any missing data or excluded participants and why.More items...

How to report age in a paper?

Age should be reported as part of the description of participants in the paper’s Method section. Be specific in providing age ranges, means, and medians. Avoid open-ended definitions such as “under 18 years” or “over 65 years,” unless referring, for instance, to broad research study eligibility criteria.

How to describe older people in a paper?

Gerontologists may use combination terms for older age groups (e.g., “young-old,” “old-old,” “oldest old”); provide the specific ages of these groups when introducing them in your paper, and use the group names only as adjectives , not as nouns (i.e., refer to “young-old individuals,” not to “the young-old”). When contrasting older adults with adults of other ages, describe that other age group specifically (e.g., young adults vs. older adults, middle-aged adults vs. older adults). You can use decade-specific descriptors if desired (e.g., octogenarian, centenarian). Generational descriptors such as “baby boomers,” “Gen X,” “millennials,” “centennials,” “Gen Z,” and so on should be used only when discussing studies related to the topic of generations. For more information on writing about age, see “Guidelines for the Evaluation of Dementia and Age-Related Cognitive Change” (APA, 2012c) and “Guidelines for Psychological Practice With Older Adults” (APA, 2014).

What age do you have to be to qualify for Medicare?

Medicare beneficiaries (unless study about Medicare specifically) Preferred: people who are receiving social security or Medicare benefits and are over the age of 62 (or another age that was included in the study) people who are receiving social security or Medicare benefits due to a disability.

What is an older adult?

Older adults are a subgroup of adults, and the age groups of older adults may be described with adjectives. On first reference to a group of older people, be as specific as possible by including the age range, average age, and median age, when available. Terms such as “older persons,” “older people,” “older adults,” “older patients,” “older ...

When to use "males" and "females"?

“Males” and “females” are appropriate when groups include individuals with a broad age range (e.g., “males” to describe a group that includes both boys and men).

Can you use decade specific descriptors?

You can use decade-specific descriptors if desired (e.g., octogenarian, centenarian). Generational descriptors such as baby boomers, ” “Gen X,” “millennials,” “centennials,” “Gen Z,” and so on should be used only when discussing studies related to the topic of generations.

Is Medicare a specific age group?

Comment: Social security and Medicare recipients or beneficiaries are not a specific age group because social security can begin at different ages and individuals with certain disabilities may receive social security and/or Medicare benefits. 4. Discussion of dementia.

Why is age important in medicine?

Age plays an important role in medicine and medical research, being an important factor when considering phenotypic changes in health and disease. A patient’s age can affect the course and progression of a disease (Diamond et al. 1989; Hasenclever and Diehl 1998) or can be important in determining the correct course of treatment (Vecht 1993). Despite this, current use of age information in medicine is somewhat simplistic and coarse.

How does the existence of overlapping age ranges support the hypothesis that different disease types divide life into different numbers of groups?

To test this hypothesis, diseases were grouped to form classes of diseases based on the Disease Ontology. Ages within each disease class were clustered on the basis of the hierarchical clustering algorithm, using the pvclust R package (Suzuki and Shimodaira 2006) to define statistically significant divisions into clusters (pvalue < 0.05).

What are age ranges?

Age ranges as proposed by several methods, namely, the widely accepted MeSH, k-means, and LDA approaches. Age ranges defined by clustering of APK data by the k-means method strongly resemble those defined by MeSH. The LDA method offers several overlapping age ranges shown to be of biomedical significance

What age group is LDA cluster 6?

An examination of the resulting age groups suggests that many might be of biological significance. LDA cluster 6, which spans ages 20–41 years, contained a large proportion of instances of a variety of female and male fertility-related diseases (e.g., spermatocytoma, male infertility, anovulation, female infertility, etc.). This age range corresponds to the child-bearing and rearing years and likely reflects those ages when patients try to conceive (Dunson et al. 2004), rather than the actual age of fertility which is likely to begin earlier. Surprisingly, substance abuse-related conditions, such as chronic alcohol intoxication, heroin dependence, and cocaine addiction, were also associated with the same cluster, possibly reflecting related social, psychological, and/or biological processes that co-occur in the same age group.

How are age clusters clustered?

Ages were clustered with the LDA algorithm based on disease co-occurrence (see “Methods”). For each cluster, the ages belonging to that cluster and the most significant age are presented. We mark the most probable ages in a given cluster as the representative age of the resulting age range

How do different disease classes divide life?

Our results suggest that different disease classes divide the human lifespan into different numbers of age ranges (see Fig. 2for selected disease classes and “Online supplementary material” for all disease classes). “Fungal Infection”, for example, defined two age ranges, namely 1–20 and 21–95 years. “Bacterial infections”, in comparison, divided life into six segments, while “tissue diseases” divided life into three sections. We note, however, that for many of the disease classes evaluated, a break was observed in the late teens or around age 20. This observation coincides with common medical knowledge; many changes occur in the late teens. The switch from adolescence to adulthood possibly transcends the age divisions associated with specific disease classes. However, the need to consider age differently for the different disease classes was further demonstrated when age distribution within each class was considered. When the median value per class was visualized (Fig. 3a), disease classes clearly differed in terms of their characteristic age ranges.

How to report genders in a study?

Report the participants’ genders (how many male and female participants ) and ages (the age range and, if appropriate, the standard deviation). In particular, if you are writing for an international audience, specify the country and region or cities where the participants lived. If the study invited only participants with certain characteristics, report this, too. For example, tell readers if the participants all had autism, were left-handed, or had participated in sports within the past year.

How to write a case study report?

If there is space to do so, you can write a brief background of each participant in the “Participants” section and include relevant information on the participant’s birthplace, current place of residence, language, and any life experience that is relevant to the study theme. If you have permission to use the participant’s name, do so. Otherwise, use a different name and add a note to readers that the name is a pseudonym. Alternatively, you might label the participants with numbers (e.g., Student 1, Student 2) or letters (e.g., Doctor A, Doctor B, etc.), or use initials to identify them (e.g., KY, JM).

What should the participants section tell readers about the population pool?

The “Participants” subsection should be fairly short and should tell readers about the population pool, how many participants were included in the study sample, and what kind of sample they represent, such as random, snowball, etc. There is no need to give a lengthy description of the method used to select or recruit the participants, as these topics belong in a separate “Procedures” subsection that is also under “Methods.” The subsection on “Participant Characteristics” only needs to provide facts on the participants themselves.

What is a report on a scientific study?

A report on a scientific study using human participants will include a description of the participant characteristics. This is included as a subsection of the “Methods” section, usually called “Participants” or “Participant Characteristics.” The purpose is to give readers information on the number and type of study participants, as a way of clarifying to whom the study findings apply and shedding light on the generalizability of the findings as well as any possible limitations. Accurate reporting is needed for replication studies that might be carried out in the future.

Why is accurate reporting important in replication studies?

The purpose is to give readers information on the number and type of study participants, as a way of clarifying to whom the study findings apply and shedding light on the generalizability of the findings as well as any possible limitations. Accurate reporting is needed for replication studies that might be carried out in the future.

Why do you use past tense in a research article?

This is because you are describing what the participants’ characteristics were at the time of data collection. By the time your article is published, the participants’ characteristics may have changed. For example, they may be a year older and have more work experience. Their socioeconomic level may have changed since the study. In some cases, participants may even have passed away. While characteristics like gender and race are either unlikely or impossible to change, the whole section is written in the past tense to maintain a consistent style and to avoid making unsupported claims about what the participants’ current status is.

What is patient case report?

Patient case reports are valuable resources of new and unusual information that may lead to vital research.

What should be included in the abstract of a patient case report?

The abstract of a patient case report should succinctly include the four sections of the main text of the report. The introduction section should provide the subject, purpose, and merit of the case report.

Why is it important to report methods and demographics?

This is particularly important because psychologically manifested differences as a result of gender, development, or other factors may be more prominent in children and adolescents. Lack of adequate information is a methodological weakness placing considerable constraints on interpretation and conclusions in pediatric and clinical child psychology.

What are the consequences of not reporting demographic and methodological variables?

A primary consequence of research articles failing to report demographic and methodological variables is that consumers are not able to estimate whether the sample is representative of the population of interest or if procedures were adequate.

What information was not included in the report of research methodology?

Reports of research methodology frequently did not include information on how and where participants were recruited, the participation/consent rates, or attrition rates. Consent and assent procedures were not frequently described.

What does an APA cover letter mean?

The Publication Manual also states that, in order to be published in an APA journal, either the manuscript or a cover letter to the editor of the journal should indicate that the researchers followed all ethical standards set forth in the APA Ethical Principles of Psychologists and Code of Conduct ( APA, 1992 ). These guidelines seek to ensure the protection of the interests of the participants, as well as providing important information to the consumers of the research.

What is the APA publication manual?

The APA Publication Manual has assumed a leading position in dictating publication standards, not only for the primary APA journals but also for the numerous other journals in psychology and related fields.

Why is it important to know the rate of consent?

Knowing the rates of consent/participation helps us to discern the representativeness of the sample from the overall population and to draw generalizable conclusions. A low rate of participation may or may not be a problem, depending on the circumstances of recruitment and the psychological variables under study. Too few research articles included this information, which is needed to form any consensus for acceptable ranges of participation.

How many articles were in the 1997 JPP?

The database included all empirical research articles published during 1997 in Journal of Pediatric Psychology (JPP, 58 articles), Journal of Clinical Child Psychology (JCCP, 52 articles), Child Development ( CD, 94 articles), and Journal of Abnormal Child Psychology ( JACP, 56 articles). Review articles, editorial articles, addresses, case studies, and studies that did not include human participants were excluded from this review. In total, 260 articles were coded and included in this study.

Why are age questions important in medical research?

In medical research, age questions help you narrow your systematic investigation to the right audience and gather valid data. It also helps the researcher categorize survey responses, and provides the proper context for data interpretation.

How to ask for age in a survey?

So how can you go about this? Let's go through a few tips to help you: 1 Let respondents know why you're asking for their age. You can include this in your survey introduction to prepare their minds. 2 Let respondents know how you intend to use the information. You don't have to go into details here: just paint a clear picture of how you'll run with their data. 3 Organize your survey into demographic sections. 4 Unless it's necessary, don't ask for the exact age. Instead, use a multiple-choice question format with age ranges that respondents can choose from.

How many age categories can you use for a survey?

In your demographic surveys or market research questionnaires, you can create helpful age categories within the range of 5 or 10. Instead of asking respondents to state their exact age, create different age categories in your survey, and they'll choose where they fall. It's easier to organize survey responses this way.

How to ask age questions in Formplus?

You can use radio fields in the Formplus builder to ask age questions or date-time fields when you need to ask for the exact date of birth of survey respondents.

Why is age important in market research?

Many times, age dictates the market's preferences, together with other demographic factors like gender and level of education . Age questions help you to align your product with the needs of your market.

Why is asking age important in a survey?

This lays emphasis on the other points we have discussed. Asking the age question in your survey is a great way to map out your target market from the crowd. If your product appeals to different market subsets, age is an excellent way to categorize your potential customers so you can create unique messages to appeal to their needs.

What age group is most likely to lean towards LinkedIn?

At the same time, Teenagers may be super enthusiastic about platforms like TikTok, while individuals in their mid-30s and early 40s may lean more towards LinkedIn. All of this points to one thing: Age can be the most crucial factor determining whether your product fails or shatters the glass ceiling.

What tests or other instruments were used to measure outcomes?

ƒ What tests or other instruments were used to measure outcomes (e.g., widely-used standardized tests, such as the Stanford Achievement Test; tests designed by the research team for purposes of the study; structured interviews with study sample members; observations of classroom behavior; school records).

What is concealing from researchers, school staff, and study sample members?

(e.g., concealing from researchers, school staff, and study sample members any information they could use to predict in advance who would be assigned to the intervention versus control group).

Introduction

  • Most papers reporting analysis of clinical data will at some point use statistics to describe the socio-demographic characteristics and medical history of the study participants. An important reason for doing this is to give the reader some idea of the extent to which study findings can be generalised to their own local situation. The production of...
See more on academic.oup.com

Describing The Distribution of Values

  • The values observed in a group of subjects, when measurements of a quantitative characteristic are made, are called the distribution of values. Graphical displays can be used to show the detail of the distribution in a variety of ways, but they take up a considerable amount of space. A precis of two key features of the distribution, its centre and its spread, is usually presented using descri…
See more on academic.oup.com

Descriptive Statistics in Text

  • Descriptive statistics may be presented in text, for example [3]:
    There are perhaps too many attributes (age, gender, marital status, employment status, educational level, living arrangements, nationality, personal income and number of chronic conditions) being described in the excerpt above: it would be easier to assimilate this informatio…
See more on academic.oup.com

Descriptive Statistics in Tables

  • Where there are too many characteristics to be described in text, or several sub-groups of participants are being compared, tabular presentation becomes more convenient. An example summarising the distribution of 11 categorical variables and 2 quantitative variables in the 2 phases of a before–after evaluation of the introduction of a care pathway for hip fracture [4] is p…
See more on academic.oup.com

Describing Loss of Participants in A Study

  • Readers will be better able to assess the generalisability of results if they can see how the participants contributing to analysis relate to the patient base from which they were drawn. Eligibility criteria and the approach to recruitment are detailed in the methods section of a paper, and their consequences in reducing the numbers available for analysis are shown at the start of …
See more on academic.oup.com

Comparing Baseline Characteristics in Rcts

  • In reports of RCTs, a table describing baseline characteristics in each trial arm demonstrates whether or not randomisation was successful in producing similar groups, as well as addressing the generalisability issue. If there are differences at baseline, comparison of outcome may be confounded. Statistical tests of significance should not be used to decide whether any differenc…
See more on academic.oup.com

Conclusions

  • Describing the main features of the distribution of important characteristics of the participants included in a study is the first step in most papers reporting statistical analysis. It is important in establishing the generalisability of research findings, and in the context of comparative studies, flags the need for controlled analysis. Usually space constraints limit the presentation of many d…
See more on academic.oup.com

Acknowledgements

  • The author would like to thank Dr Helen Roberts for kindly granting permission to use data from the care pathway study [4] to produce Figure 1c and d.
See more on academic.oup.com