Evidence-based healthcare comes from trustworthy research. Research is designed carefully, so that it can be repeated and tested by other scientists. Wrong information or bad data may waste clinical resources or even cause harm to patients.
Good news? The number of research studies about preeclampsia has rapidly grown over the years. More preeclampsia research is a positive outcome, but also creates a need for looking at how accurate and useful the data may be.
In this research study review, Dr. Wang and their colleagues looked at 202 randomized controlled trials (RCTs) from 1987 to 2021. A randomized controlled trial is a clinical study that randomly assigns participants to groups to evaluate the effectiveness of a treatment or intervention. RCTs are often considered the gold standard for clinical trials because they provide the most definitive evidence about the impact of a treatment. Large-scale RCTs often inform the creating of healthcare practice guidelines.
Researchers in this study measured how trustworthy, transparent, and useful the data was. Researchers found that even though there were more studies, the number of patients per RCT remained mostly the same.
The researchers studied three factors over time:
The researchers found that all three factors increased from the 1980s/1990s to the 2010s. A few factors suggest this, including:
Take home message: Trustworthy and transparent research is essential for evidence-based medical care. Published preeclampsia research studies increased from the 1980s to the early 2020s. There are still concerns with data reporting and the ability to repeat these studies, which is important for how these studies inform changes in healthcare practices. Increased oversight of ethics and trial registration improved public trustworthiness and transparency, but will need to continue into the future.
Transparency, trustworthiness and usefulness in pre-eclampsia randomised controlled trials in the last three decades
Citation: Hannah T Y Wang, Yichi Zhang, Rivani Porwal, James M. Kemper, Alston G.J. Ong, Ben W. Mol, Daniel L. Rolnik
Link: (https://doi.org/10.1016/j.preghy.2024.101181)
Each quarter, our team of science writers reviews the most current research studies related to hypertensive disorders of pregnancy and summarizes those studies of greatest interest and potential impact to our community, including research studies related to risk assessment, diagnosis, prevention, and treatment. Special thanks to our volunteer research team, including Dr. Sig-Linda Jacobson, Dr. Jennifer Mitchell, Dr. Julie Reynolds, and Amanda Yang who make Research Roundup possible, and to our Patient Advisory Council, who reviews these materials from the patient perspective.
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