care-check

CARE Compliance Checker

Audit case report manuscripts against the CARE (CAse REport) 13-item checklist.

Workflow

1. Read the full manuscript
2. Confirm the manuscript is a case report or small case series
3. Walk through each item below
4. For each item, assign: Reported / Partial / Missing / N/A
5. Quote the relevant manuscript text as evidence
6. Output a compliance summary + actionable fixes

CARE Checklist (13 Items)

#	Topic	Section	Requirement
1	Title	Title	The diagnosis or intervention of primary focus followed by the words "case report"
2	Key words	Title page	2-5 key words identifying diagnoses or interventions, including "case report"
3a	Abstract — Introduction	Abstract	What is unique about this case and what does it add to the literature?
3b	Abstract — Findings	Abstract	Patient's main concerns and important clinical findings
3c	Abstract — Diagnoses/Interventions	Abstract	Main diagnoses, therapeutic interventions, and outcomes
3d	Abstract — Conclusion	Abstract	Main "take-away" lessons from this case
4	Introduction	Introduction	Briefly summarise and cite similar previously published cases; state why this case is unique
5	Patient information	Case presentation	De-identified demographics, main concerns/symptoms, medical/family/psychosocial history (diet, lifestyle, genetics when possible), relevant past interventions with outcomes
6	Clinical findings	Case presentation	Relevant physical examination findings and significant clinical findings
7	Timeline	Case presentation	Important dates and times as a figure, table, or narrative (historical and current episode)
8a	Diagnostic assessment — Methods	Case presentation	Diagnostic methods (PE, lab, imaging, questionnaires)
8b	Diagnostic assessment — Challenges	Case presentation	Diagnostic challenges (financial, language/cultural, etc.)
8c	Diagnostic assessment — Reasoning	Case presentation	Diagnostic reasoning including other diagnoses considered (differential diagnosis)
8d	Diagnostic assessment — Prognosis	Case presentation	Prognostic characteristics (e.g., staging) where applicable
9a	Therapeutic intervention — Types	Case presentation	Types of intervention (pharmacologic, surgical, preventive, self-care)
9b	Therapeutic intervention — Administration	Case presentation	Administration details (dosage, strength, duration)
9c	Therapeutic intervention — Changes	Case presentation	Changes in interventions with rationale
10a	Follow-up and outcomes — Assessment	Results	Clinician-assessed and patient-assessed outcomes
10b	Follow-up and outcomes — Tests	Results	Important follow-up test results (positive or negative)
10c	Follow-up and outcomes — Adherence	Results	Intervention adherence and tolerability (how assessed)
10d	Follow-up and outcomes — Adverse events	Results	Adverse and unanticipated events
11a	Discussion — Strengths/limitations	Discussion	Strengths and limitations in the management of this case
11b	Discussion — Literature	Discussion	Relevant medical literature with references
11c	Discussion — Rationale	Discussion	Rationale for conclusions (assessment of possible causes)
11d	Discussion — Take-away	Discussion	Primary "take-away" lessons (without overgeneralizing), in a single paragraph
12	Patient perspective	Discussion	Patient shares their perspective or experience (when possible)
13	Informed consent	Other	Patient provided informed consent

Common CARE Gaps

Frequently Missing	Fix
Item 1 ("case report" in title)	Append ": a case report" to the title
Item 7 (Timeline)	Add a timeline figure or table showing key dates
Item 8c (Differential diagnosis)	List diagnoses considered and reasoning for final diagnosis
Item 10d (Adverse events)	State adverse events explicitly, even if none occurred
Item 12 (Patient perspective)	Add a brief patient quote or note that consent for perspective was not obtained
Item 13 (Informed consent)	Add a statement about informed consent for publication

Tips for Case Reports

• Timeline figure: A visual timeline dramatically improves readability and is specifically requested by CARE
• "Case report" in title: Reviewers check this first; it's the easiest item to comply with
• Patient perspective: Even one sentence from the patient adds value; if not possible, explain why
• Differential diagnosis: Don't just state the final diagnosis; show your reasoning process
• Avoid overgeneralization: The Discussion should teach lessons from this case without claiming broad applicability

Output Format

CARE Compliance Report
Manuscript: [filename]

Summary: X/13 Reported | Y Partial | Z Missing | W N/A

MISSING ITEMS:
  [Item #] [Topic] — [What's needed]

PARTIAL ITEMS:
  [Item #] [Topic] — [What's present] → [What's missing]

FULLY REPORTED:
  [Item #] [Topic] ✓

Related Skills

• /manuscript — Overall manuscript writing and anti-pattern scanning