Raising the standard of trial registration, conduct, and reporting

Cho, Yeoungjee; Davies, Simon J; Johnson, David W

Abstract

Evidence-based medicine can be defined as the conscientious, explicit, judicious, and reasonable use of modern, best evidence in making decisions about the care of individual patients.1 A randomized controlled trial (RCT) serves as the gold standard platform for evaluating the effectiveness of interventions, thereby generating the highest quality evidence to inform practice.2 However, the ability of investigators to conduct RCTs is increasingly challenged by escalating costs, resource constraints, and ethical and governance compliance requirements. These barriers have translated into a 25% reduction in the number of clinical trial applications in recent years.3 Nephrology as a discipline is particularly vulnerable as it has consistently recorded the lowest number of trial publications (with suboptimal methodological quality) compared to any other medical disciplines.4–6 These deficits can be clearly observed by reviewing guidelines published to inform clinical decision-making. For example, the latest International Society for Peritoneal Dialysis guideline on catheter-related infection included 19 recommendations or suggestions, of which only two were supported by high-certainty evidence.7 Recommendations on peritoneal dialysis (PD) training, which is a fundamental foundation to enable safe and effective PD, are based on low-certainty evidence at best,8 such that a high-quality RCT is desperately needed to guide practice.

Citation

Cho, Y., Davies, S. J., & Johnson, D. W. (2020). Raising the standard of trial registration, conduct, and reporting. Peritoneal Dialysis International: Journal of the International Society for Peritoneal Dialysis, 40(2), 112-114. https://doi.org/10.1177/0896860820902009

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Online Publication Date: Feb 6, 2020
• Publication Date: 2020-03
• Deposit Date: Jun 19, 2023
• Journal: Peritoneal Dialysis International: Journal of the International Society for Peritoneal Dialysis
• Print ISSN: 0896-8608
• Electronic ISSN: 1718-4304
• Publisher: SAGE Publications
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 40
• Issue: 2
• Pages: 112-114
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/0896860820902009
• Keywords: Nephrology; General Medicine; Reporting; standard; trial