Pilot studies: Are they appropriately reported?

Pilot studies play a pivotal role in deciding whether a main study can be undertaken thereby helping in appropriate framing of time, cost and study methods. However, they cannot be employed for testing a hypothesis and are underpowered in detecting clinically significant differences between the treatment arms. Literature from the west has shown serious lacunae on the part of researchers in reporting pilot studies. The present study assessed the reporting quality of pilot studies published from India.