TY - JOUR
T1 - Systematic review of outcome domains and instruments used in clinical trials of tinnitus treatments in adults
AU - Hall, Deborah A.
AU - Haider, Haula
AU - Szczepek, Agnieszka J.
AU - Lau, Pia
AU - Rabau, Sarah
AU - Jones-Diette, Julie
AU - Londero, Alain
AU - Edvall, Niklas K.
AU - Cederroth, Christopher R.
AU - Mielczarek, Marzena
AU - Fuller, Thomas
AU - Batuecas-Caletrio, Angel
AU - Brueggemen, Petra
AU - Thompson, Dean M.
AU - Norena, Arnaud
AU - Cima, Rilana F. F.
AU - Mehta, Rajnikant L.
AU - Mazurek, Birgit
N1 - Funding Information:
The work of this COMiT initiative is partially supported through an independent research programme funded under the Biomedicine and Molecular Biosciences European Cooperation in Science and Technology (COST) Action framework (TINNET BM1306). Travel, subsistence, and accommodation for the authors have been provided through three Short Term Scientific Missions, one training school and two project management meetings. The views expressed are those of the authors and not the funder.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2016 Hall et al.
PY - 2016/6/1
Y1 - 2016/6/1
N2 - Background: There is no evidence-based guidance to facilitate design decisions for confirmatory trials or systematic reviews investigating treatment efficacy for adults with tinnitus. This systematic review therefore seeks to ascertain the current status of trial designs by identifying and evaluating the reporting of outcome domains and instruments in the treatment of adults with tinnitus.Methods: Records were identified by searching PubMed, EMBASE CINAHL, EBSCO, and CENTRAL clinical trial registries (ClinicalTrials.gov, ISRCTN, ICTRP) and the Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews. Eligible records were those published from 1 July 2006 to 12 March 2015. Included studies were those reporting adults aged 18years or older who reported tinnitus as a primary complaint, and who were enrolled into a randomised controlled trial, a before and after study, a non-randomised controlled trial, a case-controlled study or a cohort study, and written in English. Studies with fewer than 20 participants were excluded.Results: Two hundred and twenty-eight studies were included. Thirty-five different primary outcome domains were identified spanning seven categories (tinnitus percept, impact of tinnitus, co-occurring complaints, quality of life, body structures and function, treatment-related outcomes and unclear or not specified). Over half the studies (55%) did not clearly define the complaint of interest. Tinnitus loudness was the domain most often reported (14%), followed by tinnitus distress (7%). Seventy-eight different primary outcome instruments were identified. Instruments assessing multiple attributes of the impact of tinnitus were most common (34%). Overall, 24 different patient-reported tools were used, predominantly the Tinnitus Handicap Inventory (15%). Loudness was measured in diverse ways including a numerical rating scale (8%), loudness matching (4%), minimum masking level (1%) and loudness discomfort level (1%). Ten percent of studies did not clearly report the instrument used.Conclusions: Our findings indicate poor appreciation of the basic principles of good trial design, particularly the importance of specifying what aspect of therapeutic benefit is the main outcome. No single outcome was reported in all studies and there was a broad diversity of outcome instruments.PROSPERO registration: The systematic review protocol is registered on PROSPERO (International Prospective Register of Systematic Reviews): CRD42015017525. Registered on 12 March 2015 revised on 15 March 2016.
AB - Background: There is no evidence-based guidance to facilitate design decisions for confirmatory trials or systematic reviews investigating treatment efficacy for adults with tinnitus. This systematic review therefore seeks to ascertain the current status of trial designs by identifying and evaluating the reporting of outcome domains and instruments in the treatment of adults with tinnitus.Methods: Records were identified by searching PubMed, EMBASE CINAHL, EBSCO, and CENTRAL clinical trial registries (ClinicalTrials.gov, ISRCTN, ICTRP) and the Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews. Eligible records were those published from 1 July 2006 to 12 March 2015. Included studies were those reporting adults aged 18years or older who reported tinnitus as a primary complaint, and who were enrolled into a randomised controlled trial, a before and after study, a non-randomised controlled trial, a case-controlled study or a cohort study, and written in English. Studies with fewer than 20 participants were excluded.Results: Two hundred and twenty-eight studies were included. Thirty-five different primary outcome domains were identified spanning seven categories (tinnitus percept, impact of tinnitus, co-occurring complaints, quality of life, body structures and function, treatment-related outcomes and unclear or not specified). Over half the studies (55%) did not clearly define the complaint of interest. Tinnitus loudness was the domain most often reported (14%), followed by tinnitus distress (7%). Seventy-eight different primary outcome instruments were identified. Instruments assessing multiple attributes of the impact of tinnitus were most common (34%). Overall, 24 different patient-reported tools were used, predominantly the Tinnitus Handicap Inventory (15%). Loudness was measured in diverse ways including a numerical rating scale (8%), loudness matching (4%), minimum masking level (1%) and loudness discomfort level (1%). Ten percent of studies did not clearly report the instrument used.Conclusions: Our findings indicate poor appreciation of the basic principles of good trial design, particularly the importance of specifying what aspect of therapeutic benefit is the main outcome. No single outcome was reported in all studies and there was a broad diversity of outcome instruments.PROSPERO registration: The systematic review protocol is registered on PROSPERO (International Prospective Register of Systematic Reviews): CRD42015017525. Registered on 12 March 2015 revised on 15 March 2016.
KW - Adult otolaryngology
KW - Audiology
KW - Clinical trials
KW - Methods
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=84971554690&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1186/s13063-016-1399-9
DO - 10.1186/s13063-016-1399-9
M3 - Article
C2 - 27250987
AN - SCOPUS:84971554690
SN - 1745-6215
VL - 17
JO - Trials
JF - Trials
M1 - 270
ER -