Use of the Spanish Version of the Physiotherapy Evidence Database (PEDro) Scale: A Meta-Research Study of Systematic Reviews

Abstract

BACKGROUND: Widely used to assess the quality of trials in physical therapy, the Physiotherapy Evidence Database (PEDro) scale has been translated into several languages, including Spanish. Nevertheless, no data are available on the use of the Spanish version of the scale or its adoption by Spanish-speaking authors. PURPOSE: To examine the use of the PEDro scale by Spanish-speaking authors, and the application of its Spanish version since its publication. METHODS: A meta-research study of systematic reviews was conducted to identify potentially eligible systematic reviews. From 6349 references screened, 4196 reports fulfilled our inclusion criteria and were sought for retrieval. A data extraction form was developed and piloted with a random sample of 32.6% of the included papers, with average inter-coder agreement of Kappa = 0.84 for categorical variables, and an average intra-class correlation of ICC = 0.98 for continuous variables. Primary outcomes included the language, Spanish-speaking country of the study, country of the authors, and use of the PEDro scale and field of application. RESULTS: This meta-research included a total of 650 studies in Spanish or English that applied the PEDro scale and had primary authors affiliated with a research institution in Spain or another Spanish-speaking country. The publication language was predominantly English (477 studies), and the most common Spanish-speaking countries listed were Spain (531), Chile (42), and Colombia (41). 612 systematic reviews reported having used the PEDro scale, providing 809 citations from 33 studies. A total of 21 studies specified the scale language, which was Spanish in 13 studies, and 51 studies stated having used the Spanish version of the PEDro scale. CONCLUSIONS: Only 3.5% of the 650 systematic reviews published by authors from Spanish-speaking countries specified the scale language, which was Spanish in 13 studies. STUDY REGISTRATION: The protocol for this study was registered on PROSPERO under code CRD42024575584.