Hansford, Harrison J; Cashin, Aidan G; Jones, Matthew D; Swanson, Sonja A; Islam, Nazrul; Douglas, Susan R G; Rizzo, Rodrigo R N; Devonshire, Jack J; Williams, Sam A; Dahabreh, Issa J; Dickerman, Barbra A; Egger, Matthias; Garcia-Albeniz, Xabier; Golub, Robert M; Lodi, Sara; Moreno-Betancur, Margarita; Pearson, Sallie-Anne; Schneeweiss, Sebastian; Sterne, Jonathan A C; Sharp, Melissa K; ... (2023). Reporting of Observational Studies Explicitly Aiming to Emulate Randomized Trials: A Systematic Review. JAMA Network Open, 6(9), e2336023. American Medical Association 10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2023.36023
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IMPORTANCE
Observational (nonexperimental) studies that aim to emulate a randomized trial (ie, the target trial) are increasingly informing medical and policy decision-making, but it is unclear how these studies are reported in the literature. Consistent reporting is essential for quality appraisal, evidence synthesis, and translation of evidence to policy and practice.
OBJECTIVE
To assess the reporting of observational studies that explicitly aimed to emulate a target trial.
EVIDENCE REVIEW
We searched Medline, Embase, PsycINFO, and Web of Science for observational studies published between March 2012 and October 2022 that explicitly aimed to emulate a target trial of a health or medical intervention. Two reviewers double-screened and -extracted data on study characteristics, key predefined components of the target trial protocol and its emulation (eligibility criteria, treatment strategies, treatment assignment, outcome[s], follow-up, causal contrast[s], and analysis plan), and other items related to the target trial emulation.
FINDINGS
A total of 200 studies that explicitly aimed to emulate a target trial were included. These studies included 26 subfields of medicine, and 168 (84%) were published from January 2020 to October 2022. The aim to emulate a target trial was explicit in 70 study titles (35%). Forty-three studies (22%) reported use of a published reporting guideline (eg, Strengthening the Reporting of Observational Studies in Epidemiology). Eighty-five studies (43%) did not describe all key items of how the target trial was emulated and 113 (57%) did not describe the protocol of the target trial and its emulation.
CONCLUSION AND RELEVANCE
In this systematic review of 200 studies that explicitly aimed to emulate a target trial, reporting of how the target trial was emulated was inconsistent. A reporting guideline for studies explicitly aiming to emulate a target trial may improve the reporting of the target trial protocols and other aspects of these emulation attempts.
Item Type: |
Journal Article (Review Article) |
|---|---|
Division/Institute: |
04 Faculty of Medicine > Pre-clinic Human Medicine > Institute of Social and Preventive Medicine (ISPM) |
UniBE Contributor: |
Egger, Matthias |
Subjects: |
600 Technology > 610 Medicine & health 300 Social sciences, sociology & anthropology > 360 Social problems & social services |
ISSN: |
2574-3805 |
Publisher: |
American Medical Association |
Funders: |
[215] National Institute of Health (NIH) ; [4] Swiss National Science Foundation |
Language: |
English |
Submitter: |
Pubmed Import |
Date Deposited: |
28 Sep 2023 15:43 |
Last Modified: |
03 Oct 2023 19:29 |
Publisher DOI: |
10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2023.36023 |
PubMed ID: |
37755828 |
BORIS DOI: |
10.48350/186734 |
URI: |
https://boris.unibe.ch/id/eprint/186734 |
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