"Trend" Statement Use in the Orthopaedic Literature.

Trend statements are used to describe non-statistically significant findings with moderate frequency in the orthopaedic literature. Given the potentially misleading effects of trend statements, efforts should be made to mitigate their use. If trend statements are to be used, attention should be paid to defining what constitutes a "trend", explicitly acknowledging the lack of statistical significance of the finding to which the trend statement refers, and avoiding drawing undue conclusions from non-statistically significant data.