STrengthening the Reporting of OBservational studies in Epidemiology - Nutritional Epidemiology STROBE-nut An extension of the STROBE statement The STROBE-nut consortium Lachat et al. (2016) PLoS Med. ;13(6):e1002036
STrengthening the Reporting of OBservational studies in Epidemiology -
Nutritional Epidemiology
STROBE-nut
An extension of the STROBE statement
The STROBE-nut consortium
Lachat et al. (2016) PLoS Med. ;13(6):e1002036
In this presentation
• What are research reporting guidelines and why do they matter
• How to use research reporting guidelines correctly
• What is STROBE
• What is STROBE-nut: a STROBE extension for nutritional epidemiology
• Where to find more information
Why better reporting matters
http://researchwaste.net
• Poor reporting is a major source of research waste• Published trial reports: 40–89% were non-replicable1
• Most studies had at least one primary outcome changed, introduced, or omitted from the protocol1
• Research papers are incomplete• Authors may not know what essential information to include
• Reviewers/editors may not know what should be included
• Consequence
• Incorrect interpretation of findings
• Loss of studies and information
1 Glasziou et al. 2014.. The Lancet, 383, 267-276
EQUATOR:
“ Research reports should present sufficient information to allow a full evaluation of the
presented data and further use of these findings ”
Reporting guidelines: lessons for journal editors from the EQUATOR Network Presentation Altman EQUATOR 2014
What are reporting guidelines?
• Tools for authors, reviewers and editors to ensure completeness and transparency of manuscripts
• Contain items to be reported
• Organized mainly – As a checklist, explicit text, a flow diagram or a combination
– Following the structure of a research paper (Introduction, Methods,Results, Discussion and Conclusion)
• Examples: CONSORT, PRISMA, SPIRIT
2Turner et al. 2012. Systematic Reviews, 1.
evidence shows that use of reporting guidelines influenced reporting quality of reporting of randomized controlled trials2
What are reporting guidelines
Not• A straitjacket for research papers
– Restrictions in writing style, creativity or clarity of papers
– Instructions that interfere with the editorial or review process
• Quality appraisal tools for studies
STROBE-statement
• STROBE: STrengthening the Reporting of OBservationalstudies
• Evidence-based, minimum set of recommendations for reporting of observational studies.
• A set of 22 items to report cohort studies, case-control studies and cross-sectional studies.
• STROBE-extensions
• STROBE-extensions: provide guidance for specific areas e.g.
– STREGA: Genetic Associations
– STOBE-ME: Molecular Epidemiology
– STROME-ID: Infectious Diseases
– …
Nutritional epidemiology
• Assess the diet-disease relationship in humans• Nutritional epidemiology is one of the younger
disciplines in epidemiology• Indications that reporting is problematic
– E.g. 13 of the 17 literature reviews for the 5th revision of the Nordic Nutrition Recommendations report a lack of methodological details causing lower quality rating or exclusion of papers.3
3Nordic Council of Ministers (2014)
STROBE-nut• An extension of the STROBE- statement for
nutritional epidemiology and dietary assessment• Checklist of 24 recommendations• Use checklist together with
– STROBE-nut paper – STROBE- nut explanation and elaboration
document (under preparation)– Other STROBE extensions e.g. STROBE-ME– The STROBE explanation & elaboration document
Method
• Start 2014
• Collaboration between 4 research groups
• Input from 3 Delphi rounds with 53 external experts
• Consensus through 3 face-to-face meetings
Get involved
• Reporting guidelines rely on their usefulness for users
• Continuous & interactive process to improve recommendations
• Submit feedback, comments, and new evidence on the STROBE nut website
www.strobe-nut.org
Resources
• www.strobe-nut.org
• Equator network :
• Research waste
• Downloads• Updates and translations..• User comments