Related Experiment Video
Updated: May 13, 2025

The Participant-Reported Implementation Update and Score PRIUS: A Novel Method for Capturing Implementation-Related Data Over Time
Published on: February 19, 2021
Metaresearch on patient-reported outcomes in trial protocols and results publications suggested large outcome
Ala Taji Heravi1, Dmitry Gryaznov2, Jason W Busse3
1CLEAR-Methods Center, Division of Clinical Epidemiology, Department of Clinical Research, University Hospital Basel, University of Basel, Basel, Switzerland.
Objectives:
Patient-reported outcomes (PROs) provide crucial information for evaluating health-care interventions, but previous research in specific disease areas suggested infrequent use and incomplete reporting of PROs. We examined the prevalence and characteristics of PROs in randomized clinical trial (RCT) protocols across medical fields, their reporting quality, and the consistency between PROs specified in trial protocols and subsequent reporting in trial publications.
Study Design And Setting:
We included 237 RCT protocols approved in 2012 and 251 approved in 2016, by ethics committees in Switzerland, Germany, and Canada. We systematically searched for corresponding peer-reviewed results publications and results on trial registries. Pairs of reviewers independently extracted characteristics of RCT protocols, PROs specified in protocols and reported in corresponding results publications, and assessed the reporting quality of RCTs with a PRO as the primary outcome using the Consolidated Standards of Reporting Trials-patient-reported outcome (CONSORTs-PRO) extension.
Results:
Out of 488 included RCT protocols, 147 (30%) did not report use of a PRO; 97 (20%) specified a PRO as the primary outcome and an additional 244 (50%) as a secondary outcome. The prevalence of PROs varied substantially across medical fields, ranging from 100% in rheumatology and psychiatry to about one-third in cardiology and anesthesiology. At 8-10 years after RCT approval, results were available for 264 of the 341 (77%) trial protocols that prespecified PROs. Forty-four percent of the published trials (115/264) reported all PROs as defined in the protocol, 21% (55/264) did not report any prespecified PROs, and 36% (94/264) reported more, fewer, or different PROs than those prespecified. These findings were consistent between trial protocols approved in 2012 and 2016. Among 63 peer-reviewed RCT publications that reported a PRO as their primary outcome, reporting quality was often inadequate, with seven of 13 CONSORT-PRO items.
Conclusion:
Less than half of RCT protocols with planned PROs reported them as specified in corresponding published results, suggesting outcome reporting bias, and PRO reporting quality was often deficient. These limitations complicate informed decision-making between patients and health-care providers, as well as the development of evidence-based clinical practice guidelines.
More Related Videos
06:55Inverse Probability of Treatment Weighting Propensity Score using the Military Health System Data Repository and National Death Index
Published on: January 8, 2020
00:04A Clinical Trial Assessing the Safety, Efficacy, and Delivery of Olive-Oil-Based Three-Chamber Bags for Parenteral Nutrition
Published on: September 20, 2019
Related Concept Videos
Bias
In statistics, a sampling bias is created when a sample is collected from a population, and some members of the population are not as likely to be chosen as others (remember, each member...
Guidelines for Writing Outcome
Patient outcomes reflect the patient's response to the goal rather than what the nurse aims to achieve. Terminology should be observable and measurable to avoid the reader's interpretation. The desired outcome should be realistic and achievable in the designated care timeframe. Expected outcomes should align with adjunctive therapies. The outcome should enhance care...
Blind Procedures
Bias in Epidemiological Studies
Types of Biopharmaceutical Studies: Controlled and Non-Controlled Approaches
Non-controlled studies, commonly employed for initial exploration, lack a control group, rendering them susceptible to biases and external influences. In contrast,...
Clinical Trials
There are four phases in a clinical trial. A phase one...