gms | German Medical Science

G-I-N Conference 2012

Guidelines International Network

22.08 - 25.08.2012, Berlin

Evidence to support screening recommendations – demands and reality

Meeting Abstract

  • C. Mosch - Institute for Research in Operative Medicine (IFOM), University Witten/Herdecke, Cologne, Germany
  • T. Jaschinski - Institute for Research in Operative Medicine (IFOM), University Witten/Herdecke, Cologne, Germany
  • E. Jacobs - Institute for Research in Operative Medicine (IFOM), University Witten/Herdecke, Cologne, Germany
  • M. Eikermann - Institute for Research in Operative Medicine (IFOM), University Witten/Herdecke, Cologne, Germany

Guidelines International Network. G-I-N Conference 2012. Berlin, 22.-25.08.2012. Düsseldorf: German Medical Science GMS Publishing House; 2012. DocP017

doi: 10.3205/12gin129, urn:nbn:de:0183-12gin1297

Published: July 10, 2012

© 2012 Mosch et al.
This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/deed.en). You are free: to Share – to copy, distribute and transmit the work, provided the original author and source are credited.


Outline

Text

Background: To give valid answers to research questions on screening and to support recommendations for screening procedures, randomised controlled trials (RCT) with patient relevant outcomes (PRO) should be conducted if feasible and justifiable.

Objective: To identify and analyse current trials on screening with regard to the appropriateness of study design and outcome parameter.

Methods: The analysis focusses on cancer screening for adults. A systematic literature search was conducted in Medline, Embase and Cochrane databases. The search was limited to publications since 2005 because the analysis focusses on the current implementation of methodological requirements in clinical research. Studies were included if the underlying research question was clearly related to screening. Studies with focus on diagnosis unrelated to a screening procedure were excluded. Study design and outcome parameters were analysed with regard to the ability to give an evidence base to answer screening questions.

Results: Full results are available for the topics melanoma, colorectal and cervical cancer. Non-randomised controlled trials, cross-sectional and cohort studies were the preferred study designs. Only few RCT could be identified. Most studies give information about diagnostic accuracy. PRO were observed in the minority of studies. Full results are presented at the conference.

Discussion and implications for guideline developers/users: For 3 topics on cancer screening we demonstrated that even in current screening studies study designs and outcome parameters were chosen which are not optimal to support screening recommendations. Whether this is transferable to further screening topics has to be investigated. Researchers as well as CPG developers should be sensitized for methodological requirements.