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Mary Crosse project: systematic reviews and grading the value of neonatal tests in predicting long term outcomes
Gemma L Malin1, Rachel K Morris, Khalid S Khan
1Academic Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, School of Clinical and Experimental Medicine, University of Birmingham, Birmingham Women's Hospital, Birmingham, UK. g.l.malin@bham.ac.uk
Insights
This study reviews tests for newborns to predict long-term health outcomes. It aims to clarify which neonatal assessments best indicate future infant, childhood, and adult health.
Area of Science:
- Perinatal and developmental health
- Predictive diagnostics in neonatology
Background:
- Early life events (prenatal, birth, postnatal, early childhood) impact adult health.
- Current understanding of tests linking these developmental stages is limited.
- Lack of collated information on predictive strategies for long-term outcomes.
Purpose of the Study:
- To systematically review and synthesize evidence on tests predicting infant, childhood, and adult outcomes from neonatal assessments.
- To evaluate the quality and economic value of predictive tests in neonates.
- To inform practice recommendations for predicting long-term health.
Main Methods:
- Conducting a series of systematic reviews and meta-analyses.
- Comprehensive literature search across multiple databases (Medline, Embase, Cochrane Library, MEDION) and expert consultation.
- Independent data extraction, quality assessment, and meta-analysis with heterogeneity and bias exploration.
Main Results:
- Collation and synthesis of evidence on the predictive value of neonatal tests for long-term outcomes.
- Assessment of the quality of available evidence and identification of strongly associated tests.
- Evaluation of the economic value of identified predictive tests.
Conclusions:
- The project will provide a comprehensive evaluation of evidence for neonatal tests predicting long-term outcomes.
- Identified high-quality evidence and economically valuable tests will support clinical decision-making.
- Findings will contribute to the formulation of evidence-based practice recommendations.
Background:
Events before birth, condition at birth, events immediately following birth, and condition in early childhood are linked together, and have implications for health and disease in adulthood. At present, there is lack of clarity about the tests that purport to link these various stages. This is partly because there is paucity of collated information about the best strategies for predicting longer-term outcomes before (using tests in fetal period) or after birth (using tests in neonatal period, infancy as well as early childhood).
Methods/Design:
A series of systematic reviews and meta-analyses will be undertaken to determine, amongst neonates, the ability of various tests and measures to predict infant, childhood and adult outcomes. We will search Medline, Embase, Cochrane Library, MEDION, citation lists of review articles and eligible primary articles and will contact experts in the field. Independent reviewers will select studies, extract data and assess study quality according to established criteria. Language restrictions will not be applied. Data synthesis will involve meta-analysis (where appropriate), exploration of heterogeneity and publication bias. Evidence collated will be graded for its quality to support decision making.
Discussion:
The project will collate, synthesise and evaluate the available evidence concerning the value of tests of neonatal wellbeing to predict long term outcomes. The systematic reviews will assess the quality of available evidence and identify tests with the strongest association with outcomes, and assess their economic value. The output of this project will help formulate practice recommendations.
