Assessing the usefulness of randomised trials in obstetrics and gynaecology

Janneke van 't Hooft; Charlotte E van Dijk; Cathrine Axfors; Zarko Alfirevic; Martijn A Oudijk; Khalid S Khan; Ben W J Mol; Patrick M Bossuyt; John P A Ioannidis

doi:10.1111/1471-0528.17411

Assessing the usefulness of randomised trials in obstetrics and gynaecology

Janneke van 't Hooft^* (Corresponding Author), Charlotte E van Dijk, Cathrine Axfors, Zarko Alfirevic, Martijn A Oudijk, Khalid S Khan, Ben W J Mol, Patrick M Bossuyt, John P A Ioannidis

^*Corresponding author for this work

Applied Health Sciences

Research output: Contribution to journal › Comment/debate

Abstract

Healthcare professionals will be familiar with how little of what they read in medical journals is of direct value (useful) to their practice. Randomised controlled trials (RCTs) are traditionally placed at the top of the hierarchy of evidence validity for healthcare interventions. However, even the majority of RCTs do not seem useful in that they may not lead to any tangible improvements in clinical decision making. Increasing the usefulness of RCTs can benefit society, providing better solutions for patient problems and reducing waste in medical research budgets. In this commentary we discuss the usefulness of RCTs for healthcare interventions and propose a tool for structured assessment. We describe some examples of where RCTs have demonstrated usefulness in the field of women's health and some where they may have been less useful.

Original language	English
Journal	BJOG : an international journal of obstetrics and gynaecology
Early online date	19 Feb 2023
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1111/1471-0528.17411
Publication status	E-pub ahead of print - 19 Feb 2023

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10.1111/1471-0528.17411Licence: CC BY-NC-ND

Van t Hooft_etal_BJOG_ Assessing_the_usefulness_VOR
This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs License, which permits use and distribution in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited, the use is non-commercial and no modifications or adaptations are made.© 2023 The Authors. BJOG: An International Journal of Obstetrics and Gynaecology published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.
Final published version, 858 KBLicence: CC BY-NC-ND

Cite this

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title = "Assessing the usefulness of randomised trials in obstetrics and gynaecology",

abstract = "Healthcare professionals will be familiar with how little of what they read in medical journals is of direct value (useful) to their practice. Randomised controlled trials (RCTs) are traditionally placed at the top of the hierarchy of evidence validity for healthcare interventions. However, even the majority of RCTs do not seem useful in that they may not lead to any tangible improvements in clinical decision making. Increasing the usefulness of RCTs can benefit society, providing better solutions for patient problems and reducing waste in medical research budgets. In this commentary we discuss the usefulness of RCTs for healthcare interventions and propose a tool for structured assessment. We describe some examples of where RCTs have demonstrated usefulness in the field of women's health and some where they may have been less useful.",

author = "{van 't Hooft}, Janneke and {van Dijk}, {Charlotte E} and Cathrine Axfors and Zarko Alfirevic and Oudijk, {Martijn A} and Khan, {Khalid S} and Mol, {Ben W J} and Bossuyt, {Patrick M} and Ioannidis, {John P A}",

note = "FUNDING INFORMATION The study was funded by a grant from the Netherlands Organization for Health Research and Development (ZonMw Rubicon grant #452182306). The funder had no involvement in any phase of this study.",

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AU - van 't Hooft, Janneke

AU - van Dijk, Charlotte E

AU - Axfors, Cathrine

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AU - Oudijk, Martijn A

AU - Khan, Khalid S

AU - Mol, Ben W J

AU - Bossuyt, Patrick M

AU - Ioannidis, John P A

N1 - FUNDING INFORMATION The study was funded by a grant from the Netherlands Organization for Health Research and Development (ZonMw Rubicon grant #452182306). The funder had no involvement in any phase of this study.

PY - 2023/2/19

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N2 - Healthcare professionals will be familiar with how little of what they read in medical journals is of direct value (useful) to their practice. Randomised controlled trials (RCTs) are traditionally placed at the top of the hierarchy of evidence validity for healthcare interventions. However, even the majority of RCTs do not seem useful in that they may not lead to any tangible improvements in clinical decision making. Increasing the usefulness of RCTs can benefit society, providing better solutions for patient problems and reducing waste in medical research budgets. In this commentary we discuss the usefulness of RCTs for healthcare interventions and propose a tool for structured assessment. We describe some examples of where RCTs have demonstrated usefulness in the field of women's health and some where they may have been less useful.

AB - Healthcare professionals will be familiar with how little of what they read in medical journals is of direct value (useful) to their practice. Randomised controlled trials (RCTs) are traditionally placed at the top of the hierarchy of evidence validity for healthcare interventions. However, even the majority of RCTs do not seem useful in that they may not lead to any tangible improvements in clinical decision making. Increasing the usefulness of RCTs can benefit society, providing better solutions for patient problems and reducing waste in medical research budgets. In this commentary we discuss the usefulness of RCTs for healthcare interventions and propose a tool for structured assessment. We describe some examples of where RCTs have demonstrated usefulness in the field of women's health and some where they may have been less useful.

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Assessing the usefulness of randomised trials in obstetrics and gynaecology

Abstract

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