TY - JOUR
T1 - Incomplete reporting of patient-reported outcomes in multiple sclerosis
T2 - A meta-epidemiological study of randomized controlled trials
AU - Khan, Taimoor
AU - Khalid, Mahnoor
AU - Dunford, Bryan
AU - Nguyen, Tiffany
AU - Wise, Audrey
AU - Heigle, Benjamin
AU - Shepard, Samuel
AU - Kee, Micah
AU - Hillman, Cody
AU - Ottwell, Ryan
AU - Hartwell, Micah
AU - Vassar, Matt
N1 - Funding Information:
Development of this study was funded by the Oklahoma State University Center for Health Sciences Presidential Mentor-Mentee Research Fellowship Grant.
Funding Information:
No financial or other sources of support were provided during the development of this manuscript. Dr. Hartwell reports receiving funding from the National Institute of Justice for work unrelated to the current subject. Dr. Vassar reports receipt of funding from the National Institute on Drug Abuse, the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, the US Office of Research Integrity, Oklahoma Center for Advancement of Science and Technology, and internal grants from Oklahoma State University Center for Health Sciences — all outside of the present work. All other authors have nothing to report.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2022 Elsevier B.V.
PY - 2022/7
Y1 - 2022/7
N2 - Background: Multiple Sclerosis significantly affects quality of life, which is often measured by patient-reported outcomes. The incorporation of patient-reported outcomes within clinical trials supplements the efficacy of outcomes in order to provide a patient's perspective for clinicians. Our objective was to evaluate current literature for completeness of reporting of PROs in randomized controlled trials (RCTs) for the management of MS. Methods: We used MEDLINE, Embase, and Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials to search for RCT publications investigating the management of MS. After duplicate screening via Rayyan, RCTs fitting our inclusion criteria were abstracted employing the Consolidated Standards of Reporting Trials - Patient-Reported Outcome (CONSORT-PRO) adaptation and the Cochrane Collaboration Risk of Bias (RoB) 2.0 tool. Mean percent completion of an adaptation of CONSORT-PRO was calculated to address completeness of reporting. In addition, bivariate regression models were used to evaluate relationships between trial characteristics and completeness of reporting. Results: Our search returned 3,966 results and 92 RCTs were included for data abstraction and analysis. We found an overall completion of 48.68% (SD=19.03). Sixty-five (of 92; 70.65%) of the RCTs were evaluated as having ‘high’ RoB. There were significant associations between completeness of reporting and the following: mention of CONSORT within published RCTs (t=2.55, p=.013), length of PRO follow-up (t=2.9, p=.005; t=2.14, p=.035), and sample size (t=3.12, p=.002). No other significant associations were found. Conclusion: Our study found incomplete adherence to the CONSORT-PRO adaptation among RCTs pertaining to MS. Of the most underreported items, the failure to report a hypothesis and define an approach to missing data threaten the validity of the evidence acquired from RCTs. Furthermore, PROs provide an opportunity to supplement trial outcomes with the patient's perspective. Thus, trialists of future RCTs may improve PRO reporting with increased adherence to the CONSORT-PRO adaptation.
AB - Background: Multiple Sclerosis significantly affects quality of life, which is often measured by patient-reported outcomes. The incorporation of patient-reported outcomes within clinical trials supplements the efficacy of outcomes in order to provide a patient's perspective for clinicians. Our objective was to evaluate current literature for completeness of reporting of PROs in randomized controlled trials (RCTs) for the management of MS. Methods: We used MEDLINE, Embase, and Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials to search for RCT publications investigating the management of MS. After duplicate screening via Rayyan, RCTs fitting our inclusion criteria were abstracted employing the Consolidated Standards of Reporting Trials - Patient-Reported Outcome (CONSORT-PRO) adaptation and the Cochrane Collaboration Risk of Bias (RoB) 2.0 tool. Mean percent completion of an adaptation of CONSORT-PRO was calculated to address completeness of reporting. In addition, bivariate regression models were used to evaluate relationships between trial characteristics and completeness of reporting. Results: Our search returned 3,966 results and 92 RCTs were included for data abstraction and analysis. We found an overall completion of 48.68% (SD=19.03). Sixty-five (of 92; 70.65%) of the RCTs were evaluated as having ‘high’ RoB. There were significant associations between completeness of reporting and the following: mention of CONSORT within published RCTs (t=2.55, p=.013), length of PRO follow-up (t=2.9, p=.005; t=2.14, p=.035), and sample size (t=3.12, p=.002). No other significant associations were found. Conclusion: Our study found incomplete adherence to the CONSORT-PRO adaptation among RCTs pertaining to MS. Of the most underreported items, the failure to report a hypothesis and define an approach to missing data threaten the validity of the evidence acquired from RCTs. Furthermore, PROs provide an opportunity to supplement trial outcomes with the patient's perspective. Thus, trialists of future RCTs may improve PRO reporting with increased adherence to the CONSORT-PRO adaptation.
KW - CONSORT-PRO
KW - Completeness of reporting
KW - Multiple Sclerosis
KW - Patient-reported outcome
KW - Quality of life
KW - Randomised controlled trials
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85130114150&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1016/j.msard.2022.103819
DO - 10.1016/j.msard.2022.103819
M3 - Article
C2 - 35487036
AN - SCOPUS:85130114150
SN - 2211-0348
VL - 63
JO - Multiple Sclerosis and Related Disorders
JF - Multiple Sclerosis and Related Disorders
M1 - 103819
ER -