IMPORTANCE Quality of life (QoL) is an important consideration in cancer medicine, especially because drugs are becoming more costly and may only result in modest gains in overall survival.However, there has been no descriptive analysis for the points at which QoL is measured in cancer trials.OBJECTIVE To estimate the prevalence of studies that measure QoL at different points and see how many studies measure QoL for the entirety of a patient's life. DESIGN, SETTING, AND PARTICIPANTS This cross-sectional analysis includes all articles ononcology clinical trials in the 3 highest-impact oncology journals, published between July 2015 and June 2018, that reported QoL outcomes. MAIN OUTCOMES AND MEASURESData were abstracted on when QoL was assessed and the characteristics of these studies. RESULTSFor all 149 studies that met inclusion criteria, QoL assessment was high during treatment (104 articles [69.8%]), during follow-up (81 articles [54.4%]), and after the end of the intervention (68 articles [45.6%]). In 5 of the 149 studies (3.4%), QoL was assessed until death, including in only 1 of the 74 studies on metastatic or incurable cancers. Among these 5 studies, only 1 (20%) used a drug intervention, 1 (20%) used a behavioral intervention, and 2 (40%) used a radiation intervention; only 1 of 5 was in the metastatic setting. The number of studies that reported a positive QoL outcome (ie, QoL outcome was more favorable in the intervention group than in the control group) was between 42 of 81 articles (51.9%) and 16 of 28 articles (57.1%) for most QoL assessment points but only 1 of 5 articles (20%) for studies measuring QoL until death. CONCLUSIONS AND RELEVANCEThis study found that most clinical trials assessed QoL during the treatment or intervention and often during a given amount of follow-up but infrequently assessed QoL on disease progression and rarely followed QoL until the end of the patient's life. Most studies reporting QoL until the end of life reported worse QoL outcomes for the intervention group than the control group. Future research and policy recommendations should consider not just short-term QoL outcomes but QoL outcomes throughout the patient's cancer care. Question How often do oncology studies assess quality of life (QoL) throughout a patient's disease course? Findings This cross-sectional analysis of 149 oncology studies published in highimpact medical and oncology journals found that most studies (69.8%) assessed QoL during the intervention, whereas only 3.4% of studies assessed QoL until the time of death. Meaning These findings suggest that many oncology studies only assess QoL during the intervention; future research should consider the long-term outcomes throughout the patient's life.Oncology, and JAMA Oncology. For each of the journals, we searched for the term quality of life on the journal's website, and we limited the search to research articles only. Selected articles needed to (1) be an RCT, (2) have performed the analysis in the originally randomized groups, (3) have evaluated QoL in ...
The ability to identify medical reversals and other low-value medical practices is an essential prerequisite for efforts to reduce spending on such practices. Through an analysis of more than 3000 randomized controlled trials (RCTs) published in three leading medical journals (the Journal of the American Medical Association, the Lancet, and the New England Journal of Medicine), we have identified 396 medical reversals. Most of the studies (92%) were conducted on populations in high-income counties, cardiovascular disease was the most common medical category (20%), and medication was the most common type of intervention (33%).
Role of the Funder/Sponsor: The funders had no role in the design and conduct of the study; collection, management, analysis, and interpretation of the data; preparation, review, or approval of the manuscript; and decision to submit the manuscript for publication.Disclaimer: Dr Bibbins-Domingo is the former chair of the US Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF). This article reflects her own work and not the official positions of the USPSTF.
reports receiving compensation fromMcKinsey & Company for providing strategy consulting to hospitals, insurance companies, and pharmaceutical companies on issues unrelated to this article.
Background Identifying ineffective practices that have been used in oncology is important in reducing wasted resources and harm. We sought to examine the prevalence of practices that are being used but have been shown in RCTs to be ineffective (medical reversals) in published oncology studies. Methods We cross-sectionally analyzed studies published in three high-impact oncology medical journals (2009–2018). We abstracted data relating to the frequency and characterization of medical reversals. Results Of the 64 oncology reversals, medications (44%) represented the most common intervention type (39% were targeted). Fourteen (22%) were funded by pharmaceutical/industry only and 56% were funded by an organization other than pharmaceutical/industry. The median number of years that the practice had been in use prior to the reversal study was 9 years (range 1–50 years). Conclusion Here we show that oncology reversals most often involve the administration of medications, have been practiced for years, and are often identified through studies funded by non-industry organizations.
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