Journal of clinical epidemiology
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To document reporting of study characteristics of randomized controlled trials (RCTs) in the four leading general medical journals and to appraise the generalizability of the evidence. ⋯ Almost all RCTs showed deficiencies in description of patient selection and study setting and in reporting of patient characteristics related to functioning, comorbidities, and to behavioral, environmental, and inequity factors. The findings indicate that generalizability of this evidence may be limited. The benchmarking method can be used for planning and appraisal of clinical trials and systematic reviews.
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Network meta-analysis (NMA) is increasingly being used to synthesize direct and indirect evidence and help decision makers simultaneously compare multiple treatments. We empirically evaluate the incremental gain in precision achieved by incorporating indirect evidence in NMAs. ⋯ Although NMAs have the potential to provide more precise results than those only based on direct evidence, the incremental gain may reliably occur only when at least two head-to-head studies are available and treatments are well connected. Researchers should routinely report and compare the results from both network and pairwise meta-analyses.
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Randomized Controlled Trial
A data-sharing agreement helps to increase researchers' willingness to share primary data: results from a randomized controlled trial.
Sharing individual participant data (IPD) among researchers, on request, is an ethical and responsible practice. Despite numerous calls for this practice to be standard, however, research indicates that primary study authors are often unwilling to share IPD, even for use in a meta-analysis. This study sought to examine researchers' reservations about data sharing and to evaluate the impact of sending a data-sharing agreement on researchers' attitudes toward sharing IPD. ⋯ These findings shed light on data-sharing practices, attitudes, and concerns and can be used to inform future meta-analysis projects seeking to collect IPD, as well as the field at large.
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Diagnostic and prognostic prediction models often perform poorly when externally validated. We investigate how differences in the measurement of predictors across settings affect the discriminative power and transportability of a prediction model. ⋯ When a prediction model is applied to a different setting to the one in which it was developed, its discriminative ability can decrease or even increase if the magnitude or structure of the errors in predictor measurements differ between the two settings. This provides an important starting point for researchers to better understand how differences in measurement methods can affect the performance of a prediction model when externally validating or implementing it in practice.
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To examine, through a cross-sectional survey, how well safety information was reported among drug systematic reviews predating PRISMA harms checklist and explore factors associated with better reporting. ⋯ The reporting of safety information was poor both for Cochrane and non-Cochrane drug systematic reviews predating PRISMA harms checklist. The findings suggested a strong need to use the PRISMA harms checklist for reporting safety among drug systematic reviews.