Exp Ther Med 15:[Related article:] 3096–3102, 2018; DOI:
10.3892/etm.2018.5794
Following the publication of this paper, a number of
concerns were brought to the attention of the Editorial Office by a
concerned reader. First, it was noted that the article did not
provide details of the name of the institution granting the ethics
approval, the ethics approval number, or the date. In addition, the
following comments/concerns were raised: First, the article states
that 366 people aged 18-30 years with knee osteoarthritis were
recruited, although, given that the prevalence of osteoarthritis in
people under 30 years of age is very low, this appears to have been
a surprisingly large number of people to have recruited for the
study. It was also noted that the article did not provide a CONSORT
flow diagram. The reader also observed that the article reports
that participants were randomly divided into two groups, although
multiple groups are presented in the results; moreover, in Fig. 1A
and B, there are multiple placebo groups shown, but the text only
mentions one placebo group. Finally, other omissions in the
description of the methods were noted: The article did not report
on either the method of generating the random sequence or the
method for concealing the randomization sequence from both
participants and researchers, and neither was the cut-off used to
define the response rate provided for the Karnofsky scale.
The authors have been contacted by the Editorial
Office to offer an explanation for the apparent anomalies and
omissions in this paper, and we are awaiting their response. Owing
to the fact that the Editorial Office has been made aware that
important information has not been reported in this paper, we are
issuing an Expression of Concern to notify readers of this
potential problem while the Editorial Office continues to
investigate this matter further.
