2021 InvestigatingTrendsintheQuality

(Efficace et al., 2021) ⇒ Fabio Efficace, Johannes M Giesinger, David Cella, Francesco Cottone, Francesco Sparano, Marco Vignetti, and Neil K Aaronson. (2021). “Investigating Trends in the Quality of Reporting of Patient-Reported Outcomes in Oncology Over Time: Analysis of 631 Randomized Controlled Trials Published Between 2004 and 2019.” In: Value in Health. doi:https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jval.2021.06.003

Subject Headings: Cancer RCT.

Notes

Patient-reported outcomes (PROs) are increasingly included as endpoints in randomized controlled trials (RCTs). Previous studies have highlighted poor standards of PRO reporting from cancer RCTs, which may compromise the understanding and impact of PRO study findings.
Results from our multivariable analyses of more than 600 solid cancer RCTs published between 2004 and 2019 indicate a statistically significant improvement in the quality of PRO reporting over time. This finding may have important implications for the greater role that PRO data could play in the clinical arena.
The improvement of the quality of reporting of PRO findings in trial publications may strengthen the role of PROs in clinical practice and enhance their impact on cancer treatment policy and recommendations. Among other factors, the publication of high-quality standards for the reporting of PRO results, such as the International Society for Quality of Life Research reporting criteria and the Consolidated Standards of Reporting Trials-PRO Extension, may have contributed to the observed improvement.

Objectives: Incomplete reporting of key information on patient-reported outcomes (PROs) in randomized controlled trials (RCTs) in oncology has been highlighted repeatedly as a major barrier to the use of study findings in clinical practice. We investigated whether the quality of reporting of PRO data in cancer RCTs has improved over the last 15 years.

Methods: We identified all cancer RCTs with PRO endpoints conducted across the most prevalent solid tumor types worldwide published between 2004 and 2019. The quality of PRO reporting was assessed using the International Society for Quality of Life Research recommended standards, which include important aspects related to assessment methodology, statistical analyses, and interpretation of data.

Results: We assessed a total of 631 cancer RCTs in breast (n = 187), lung (n = 131), prostate (n = 120), colorectal (n = 107), and gynecological (n = 86) cancer. We observed a higher adherence to the International Society for Quality of Life Research reporting criteria in the more recently published studies. In a multivariable linear regression analysis, we observed a statistically significant improvement in the quality of PRO reporting over time (P<.001), and this relationship was independent of other measured confounding factors, such as sample size and study sponsorship. Overall, the quality of PRO reporting was higher for studies published after the publication of the Consolidated Standards of Reporting Trials-PRO Extension.

Conclusions: The quality of PRO reporting in cancer RCTs published in the last 15 years has improved significantly. Our findings are encouraging because better reporting of PRO results may translate into a greater impact of study findings on real-world practice.

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	Author	volume	Date Value	title	type	journal	titleUrl	doi	note	year
2021 InvestigatingTrendsintheQuality	Fabio Efficace Johannes M Giesinger David Cella Francesco Cottone Francesco Sparano Marco Vignetti Neil K Aaronson			Investigating Trends in the Quality of Reporting of Patient-Reported Outcomes in Oncology Over Time: Analysis of 631 Randomized Controlled Trials Published Between 2004 and 2019				https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jval.2021.06.003		2021