Studies with obscure methods

Who knows what went on?

Extracting a study involves trying to follow what the authors did and how the methods used may have impacted the result and conclusions. This is why you should never just read the abstract and take home the message. The cohort study by Wang et al. has unclear methods and, yet again, no mention of a protocol. The whole purpose of this study hinges on the probability of interruption of transmission within households from an index case. However, these are not clearly defined.