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

or Carl.lachat@ugent.be

Resources

• www.strobe-nut.org

• Equator network :

• Research waste

• Downloads• Updates and translations..• User comments