Integrating Systematic Reviews into Supportive Care Trial Design: The Rethinking Clinical Trials (REaCT) Program

Bader Alshamsan; Brian Hutton; Michelle Liu; Lisa Vandermeer; Mark Clemons

doi:10.3390/curroncol29120750

Integrating Systematic Reviews into Supportive Care Trial Design: The Rethinking Clinical Trials (REaCT) Program

Curr Oncol. 2022 Dec 5;29(12):9550-9559. doi: 10.3390/curroncol29120750.

Authors

Bader Alshamsan^{1

2}, Brian Hutton³, Michelle Liu⁴, Lisa Vandermeer⁴, Mark Clemons^{1

4}

Affiliations

¹ Department of Medicine, Division of Medical Oncology, The Ottawa Hospital, The University of Ottawa, Ottawa, ON K1H 8L6, Canada.
² Department of Medicine, College of Medicine, Qassim University, Buraydah 52571, Saudi Arabia.
³ Clinical Epidemiology Program, The Ottawa Hospital Research Institute, University of Ottawa, Ottawa, ON K1H 8L6, Canada.
⁴ Cancer Therapeutics Program, Ottawa Hospital Research Institute, 501 Smyth Road, Ottawa, ON K1H 8L6, Canada.

Abstract

Purpose: To review the successes and challenges of integrating systematic reviews (SRs) into the Rethinking Clinical Trials (REaCT) Program.

Methods: All REaCT program SRs were evaluated and descriptive summaries presented.

Results: Twenty-two SRs have been performed evaluating standard of care interventions for the management of: breast cancer (n = 15), all tumour sites (n = 4), breast and prostate cancers (n = 2), and prostate cancer (n = 1). The majority of SRs were related to supportive care (n = 14) and survivorship (n = 5) interventions and most (19/22, 86%) confirmed the existence of uncertainty relating to the clinical question addressed in the SR. Most SRs (15/22, 68%) provided specific recommendations for future studies and results were incorporated into peer-reviewed grant applications (n = 6) and clinical trial design (n = 12). In 12/22 of the SRs, the first author was a trainee. All SRs followed PRISMA guidelines.

Conclusion: SRs are important for identifying and confirming clinical equipoise and designing trials. SRs provide an excellent opportunity for trainees to participate in research.

Keywords: breast cancer; clinical trial; meta-analysis; network meta-analysis; pragmatic trial; systematic review.

Publication types

Review
Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

Breast Neoplasms* / therapy
Female
Humans
Research Design*

Grants and funding

The research did not receive any specific grant from funding agencies in the public, commercial, or not-for-profit sectors. This work was supported by the Rethinking Clinical Trials (REaCT) Program platform at the Ottawa Hospital which is supported by The Ottawa Hospital Foundation and its generous donors.