Trial registration and selective outcome reporting in 585 clinical trials investigating drugs for prevention of postoperative nausea and vomiting

Supporting study registration to reduce research waste

An estimated 82-89% of ecological research and 85% of medical research has limited or no value to the end user because of various inefficiencies. We argue that registration and registered reports can enhance the quality and impact of ecological research. Drawing on evidence from other fields, chiefly medicine, we support our claim that registration can reduce research waste. However, increasing registration rates, quality and impact will be very slow without coordinated effort of funders, publishers and research institutions. We therefore call on them to facilitate the adoption of registration by providing adequate support. We outline several aspects to be considered when designing a registration system that would best serve the field of ecology. To further inform the development of such a system, we call for more research to identify the causes of low registration rates in ecology. We suggest short- and long-term actions to bolster registration and reduce research waste.

Missing trial results: analysis of the current publication rate of studies in pediatric dialysis from 2003 to 2020

BACKGROUND

Decision-making in the field of pediatric dialysis requires evidence from clinical trials, but, similar to other fields of pediatric medicine, might be affected by a low trial publication rate.

METHODS

We analyzed the current publication rate, the time to publication, and factors that might be associated with both rate of and time to publication in pediatric dialysis studies registered as completed on ClinicalTrials.gov from 2003 until November 2020.

RESULTS

Fifty-three respective studies were identified. These enrolled 7287 patients in total. 28 of 53 studies (52.8%) had results available. We identified a median time to publication of 20.5 months (range, 3-67). Studies published after the FDA Amendments Act establishment in 2007 were published faster (P = 0.025). There was no trend toward a higher publication rate of studies completed more recently (P = 0.431). 26 of 53 studies (49.1%) focused on medication and control of secondary complications of kidney failure. 12 of 53 studies (22.6%) enrolled only children, were published faster (P = 0.029) and had a higher 5-year publication rate (P = 0.038) than studies enrolling both children and adults. 25 of 53 studies (47.1%) were co-funded by industry. These were published faster (P = 0.025).

CONCLUSIONS

Currently, only 52.8% of all investigated studies in pediatric dialysis have available results, and the overall median time to publication did not meet FDA requirements. This might introduce a publication bias into the field, and it might negatively impact clinical decision-making in this critical subspecialty of pediatric medicine. A higher resolution version of the Graphical abstract is available as Supplementary information.