Validity of clinical associations of biomarkers in translational research studies: the case of systemic autoimmune diseases

Table 1 Study-design features evaluated in studies examining potential biomarkers

Diagnosis	Disease activity	Prognosis
Matched for age	Matched for age	Matched for age
Matched for sex	Matched for sex	Matched for sex
Matched for race	Matched for race	Matched for race
Provided information on medications	Provided information on medications	Provided information on medications
Controlled for treatment effects	Controlled for treatment effects	Controlled for treatment effects
Reported use of accepted classification criteria	Reported use of validated disease-activity measures	Reported use of validated measures of damage
Included patients with both early and late disease	Longitudinal versus cross-sectional design	Longitudinal versus cross-sectional design
Included patients with both active and inactive disease	Included a wide range of disease-activity scores
Included disease controls

ISSN: 1478-6362