Survival Data Quality in Retrospective Oncology Publications

Area of Science:

• Oncology
• Medical Informatics
• Biostatistics

Background:

• Survival endpoints are critical in cancer research.
• Accuracy relies on high-quality data sources, but electronic medical records (EMRs) often provide incomplete data.
• The reporting and quality of survival data sources in retrospective oncology studies are largely unknown.

Purpose of the Study:

• To assess the reporting and quality of survival data sources in retrospective cancer studies.
• To identify trends in data source quality over time.
• To examine associations between data quality and journal impact factor or subspecialty.

Main Methods:

• A systematic review of 514 retrospective studies published in nine oncology journals in 2001, 2011, and 2021.
• Extraction of survival endpoints and outcome data sources.
• Categorization of data sources as high quality, uncertain quality, or unknown.

Main Results:

• Overall survival was the most common endpoint (80%).
• 14% of studies did not report their survival data source.
• Studies increasingly used high-quality sources over time (13% in 2001/2011 vs. 26% in 2021), but uncertain-quality sources remained more common.
• Radiation oncology studies were less likely to use high-quality data sources.

Conclusions:

• The majority of retrospective cancer studies rely on uncertain-quality survival data sources.
• Despite improvements, there's a need for better adherence to reporting guidelines and encouragement of high-quality data source utilization.
• Journal impact factor did not correlate with the proportion of studies using high-quality data sources.