Fig. 2

Avoidable waste of research related to missing outcomes in RCTs published in 2010 or later and not contributing to all meta-analyses of important outcomes (n = 291). This figure summarizes the evolution of the outcomes status of SoF tables (O1 to O12 because SoF tables included from 1 to 12 outcomes per review) for each RCT at the different steps of our study: step I (i.e., information as it was extracted), step II (i.e., after evaluating the reason for the missing outcome) and after considering if there was no selective reporting or incomplete reporting, and finally step III (i.e., evaluation of waste of research) and after accounting for inadequate planning and selective reporting or incomplete reporting (i.e., adequate planning and no selective reporting or incomplete reporting). On the y-axis, each line represents one of the 291 RCTs published in 2010 or later and not contributing to all meta-analyses of the outcomes reported in the SoF table. The x-axis represents the outcomes reported in the SoF table. Each brick represents a single outcome of the SoF table. The color is a visual representation of the presence or absence of the outcome in the RCT. Light blue means that the outcome was present in the corresponding RCT and dark blue that the outcome was absent in the RCT. RCT randomized controlled trial, SoF summary of findings