Abstract
Objectives: Identify strategies used in the design of recent randomised controlled trials
(RCTs) and their associated Cochrane reviews where patients with the same gynaecological
condition present with different symptoms.
Study Design and Setting: We searched the Cochrane library (February 2022) for reviews in
polycystic ovarian syndrome (PCOS) and endometriosis. Reviews were included if the
intervention was intended to treat all condition-specific symptoms. We restricted to trials
published since 2012 to consider ‘current’ approaches. For each trial we recorded the number
of potentially eligible participants excluded as a direct result of the chosen strategy. For each
review we recorded the numbers of RCTs and participants excluded unnecessarily.
Results
There were 89 distinct PCOS trials in 13 reviews, and 13 Endometriosis trials in 11
reviews. Most trials restricted their eligibility to participants with specific symptoms (55%
PCOS, 46% endometriosis). The second most common strategy was to measure and analyse
clinical outcomes that were not relevant to all participants (38% PCOS, 31% endometriosis).
Reviews excluded 27% of trials based just on outcome data.
Conclusions
Current gynaecological research is inefficient. Most trials either exclude
patients who could benefit from treatment or measure outcomes not relevant to all
participants.
Registration: PROSPERO (CRD42022334776)
Keywords
Research waste; Randomised Clinical Trial; Cochrane Review; Gynaecology;
Outcome selection.
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NOTE: This preprint reports new research that has not been certified by peer review and should not be used to guide clinical practice.
What is new?
Key findings
Over a quarter of Cochrane reviews included in this review excluded trials based on
the outcomes reported.
Typically, recent randomised controlled trials in Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome and
Endometriosis trials either exclude patients who could potentially benefit from the
treatment given, or measure outcomes of no relevance to some participants.
What this adds to what is known?
Strategies developed that are employed in the design and measurement of outcomes in
gynaecological trials.
There are multiple sources of waste in the current gynaecological research landscape. The
population of patients available is under-utilised by excluding patients based on the outcomes
measured, or alternatively, researchers are measuring outcomes in patients who do not
experience the associated symptom(s).
What is the implication and what should change now?
Gynaecological patients experience heterogeneity in their symptoms and therefore it is crucial
to employ appropriate outcome measures in order to reduce research waste. Cochrane
Reviews should include all trials which report outcomes that are relevant to the population
of interest if the intervention under investigation is deemed to plausibly treat the associated
symptom(s).
1. Introduction
The principal role of a randomised controlled trial (RCT) is to evaluate whether a medical
intervention is safe and effective. In order for this to happen, it is imperative that researchers measure
outcomes which are both appropriate and relevant to the population of interest. Although randomised
controlled trials remain the gold standard tool for treatment evaluation, many, through poor design,
contribute to the overwhelming problem of waste in research [1-4]. In the Lancet collection of papers
on waste in medical research, it was estimated that $240 billion of annual research expenditure is
wasted [3, 5-8]. It is indeed true that much work is being done to reduce this figure, however, there is
still much room for improvement [9, 10] . Inefficient studies that fail to address questions that matter
to both patients and stakeholders emphasise the importance that we need to do less, but better,
research [11].
Often, in the case of gynaecological conditions such as Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome (PCOS) and
Endometriosis, patients require different things from their care, at different stages of their lifetime
[12-15]. Not all patients with the same diagnosis will experience all of the associated complications,
and, although their most bothersome symptom might differ, it is common to receive the same
treatment. If we take PCOS, for example, the Rotterdam criteria are the most widely used
classification for diagnosis and proposes that PCOS is present if the patient has at least two of the
three characteristics: oligo- and/or anovulation, clinical and/or biochemical hyperandrogenism, and
polycystic ovaries on ultrasound [16]. These criteria for the diagnosis of PCOS in itself has
consequences, as by definition, not all patients with PCOS have all the possible manifestations of the
disorder and therefore do not experience the same symptoms and health risk factors [12]. For
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endometriosis, patients may have symptoms dominated by pelvic pain, infertility, or both. In the post-
reproductive era the reduction in quality-of-life from menstrual dysfunction may predominate. In the
likely scenario that potential trial participants have no, or little, symptoms in common, it presents the
problem of how researchers select relevant, patient-important outcomes and design RCTs that are not
wasteful.
One of the most notable inclusions to the movement to reduce waste in research is the development of
core outcome sets (COS). The Core Outcome Measures in Effectiveness Trials (COMET) Initiative
encourages the application of agreed standardised sets of outcomes. These outcome sets represent the
minimum that should be measured and reported in clinical trials in specific clinical areas [17-19].
Recently developed core outcome sets in both Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome (PCOS) and
endometriosis undoubtedly violate the concept of COS, as authors in both instances concluded that
not all outcomes could be reported in all trials [20, 21]. This is demonstrative of the fact that in the
field of gynaecology, it is not one-size-fits-all.
This prompts the question of how we should design trials so as to incorporate this heterogeneity, as
well as the implications for systematic reviews and meta-analysis. Due to the multifactorial nature of
a patient’s symptoms, the design and recruitment of gynaecological trials is challenging and is
approached in different ways. We conducted a systematic review to investigate how diverse
symptoms and patient populations are currently handled in gynaecological trials, in which the
intervention could plausibly be used to treat all symptoms related to the diagnosis. We aimed to
identify the methodological strategies applied within randomised controlled trials in Cochrane
Reviews, where an intervention is hypothesised to have potential benefit for patients with the index
condition.
2. Methods
The study design was a systematic review with descriptive statistics. Our overall approach was to
identify systematic reviews in the conditions of interest and to examine the characteristics and
methodological practice of their included and excluded trials. Protocol registration was with the
Prospective Register of Systematic Reviews (registration number: CRD42022334776). Full details of
Methods
are given there but summarised below.
In February 2022 searches were undertaken to identify systematic reviews contained in the Cochrane
Library on interventions for PCOS or endometriosis. We considered trials list under both ‘included’
and ‘excluded’ categories.
2.1 Study inclusion criteria
Decisions regarding eligibility were made by discussion with AW, a consultant in gynaecology.
Cochrane intervention reviews and RCTs were eligible for inclusion from 2012 onwards to give an
overview of current practice. Cochrane reviews were included only if the intervention under
investigation was intended to treat the underlying condition, and would therefore plausibly treat all
condition-specific symptoms. For example, in vitro fertilisation would not be an eligible treatment, as
it would be used only for fertility outcomes.
2.2 Data extraction
Two reviewers (KS and AW) screened all titles and abstracts against the inclusion criteria. Any
disagreements were resolved through discussion.
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Outcomes categories were pre-specified (appendix), along with whether each outcome was primary,
secondary, or unspecified. This information was also extracted for each of the trials, along with the
setting, intervention type, funding source, design, size (number of participants randomised), number
of participants excluded for symptom/outcome-related reasons and the number of participants
contributing to the primary outcome.
Seven different strategies were anticipated for the RCTs, as demonstrated in Figure 1. We developed
these strategies as part of an iterative process. As a pilot, we developed some potential strategies we
had seen during our time as researchers, assessed several trials and determined if the strategy used by
each trial was different to those we anticipated. We then discussed and re-evaluated until no new
strategies were found. We note that this may not be an exhaustive list, and we considered whether any
additional strategies not included in our list were used. Each trial was categorised according to the
strategy used, in the order listed, i.e. if the trial did not fit the criteria to be the first strategy, it was
considered for the next, and so on.
For ease of context and reference, we named the strategies and will refer to them as such throughout:
Participant-specific Outcome Strategy - patient-specific primary outcome was chosen, for
example patient satisfaction or success.
Composite Outcome Strategy - composite outcome, for example the resumption of
menstruation or hirsutism improvement.
Universal Eligibility Strategy - measured outcomes regardless of their relevance to the
patients in the study, e.g. a study which did not restrict to patients experiencing amenorrhea (a
lack of menstruation) but measured resumption of menstrual period as an outcome in every
patient.
Grouped Universal Eligibility Strategy would be trials designed the same way as the
Universal Eligibility Strategy, but the statistical analysis would be restricted to those who
experienced amenorrhea at baseline, as a subset analysis.
Restricted Eligibility Strategy was allocated where a trial measured only clinical outcomes
based on the symptoms of all patients in the study, i.e. a fertility trial, interested only in
fertility-based outcomes, where the inclusion criteria is patients experiencing subfertility.
Downstream Eligibility strategy was studies measuring only quality-of-life outcomes.
Upstream Eligibility strategy was studies reporting no clinical outcomes, only biomarker
outcomes.
For each trial, where available, we recorded the number of potentially eligible participants excluded
as a direct result of the chosen strategy relative to the achieved sample size. That is, how much larger
could the recruitment have been without an outcome-defined restriction on eligibility criteria. Where
available, the number of potentially eligible participants were taken from the CONSORT flow chart.
This was taken to be the number of participants that were found to be ineligible for outcome-related
reasons pre-randomisation. Similarly, for each Cochrane review we recorded the numbers of
identified RCTs excluded from consideration for reasons such as not reporting review-specific
outcomes. To determine which trials were excluded from each Cochrane review and the reason for
exclusion, we used the ‘Characteristics of excluded studies’ section of the review. We selected all
excluded trials for assessment where the reason for exclusion was related to the population of patients,
outcome reporting or selection.
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Figure 1 - Strategies for randomised controlled trials in gynaecology.
2.3 Study quality assessment and data analysis
We accepted the published risk of bias assessment for the included studies. For the studies that were
excluded from the Cochrane review, and therefore have no associated risk of bias assessment, these
were independently assessed using Cochrane’s risk of bias tool as a surrogate for their quality.
Descriptive analyses were undertaken. All data synthesis was exploratory and included the calculation
of a mean number of exclusions.
We aimed to analyse whether calendar year of publication and study-level factors (e.g. sample size,
nature of intervention, study quality assessed by risk of bias) were associated with inefficiency, using
Fisher’s Exact test as an exploratory analysis. For this, date of publication was divided into pre-2017
Patient-specific
outcome
• Patient-specific outcome chosen, i.e. measurement of
outcomes that are identified as most important to each patient,
or asking for satisfaction at the end of the study.
Composite
outcome
• Composite outcome e.g. resumption of menstruation or
hirsutism improvement.
Universal &
Grouped
Universal
Eligibility
• Universal- Measurement of one or more clinical outcomes that
are not relevant to all participants with analysis overall.
• Grouped - Measurement of one or more clinical outcomes that
are not relevant to all participants, analysis only of subsets.
Restricted
Eligibility
• Measurement of clinical outcomes based on symptoms of all
patients in study (e.g. by restricting eligibility criteria)
Downstream &
Upstream
• Downstream- Outcome(s) measured is 'downstream' (such as
quality of life)
• Upstream- Outcome(s) measured is 'upstream' (such as at
biomarker level)
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and 2017 or after; nature of intervention was medical, surgical or other; risk of bias was judged as
either in the primary analysis or not if selection bias was deemed low using Cochrane Gynaecology
and Fertility’s guidance [22] and strategy was compared as Universal Eligibility, Restricted Eligibility
or Other strategy.
3. Results
3.1 Study selection and characteristics
For PCOS, there were 31 Cochrane reviews screened at the title and abstract stage, of which 13,
containing 239 trials (included those that were excluded from the associated Cochrane review), met
the inclusion criteria. There were 136 trials which were excluded from this review for reasons relating
to design and access, information can be found in the PRISMA (Figure A1). Duplication occurred in
two ways, the first, where the same trial appeared in multiple Cochrane reviews. We removed these
duplicate trials, including only the first time, chronologically, that the trial appears in a review (2 trials
appeared three times, 7 appeared twice). The second form of duplication occurred on 3 instances
where publications had re-analysed original trial data, reporting different outcomes. In this case, all
data were collected and considered as one trial. Therefore, a total of 89 trials in 13 Cochrane reviews
contributed to the findings of this review.
For endometriosis, 32 Cochrane reviews were screened at the title and abstract stage with 11,
containing 19 trials, meeting the inclusion criteria. Six trials were excluded as they were abstract only
(n=3), inaccessible (n=1) or had no locatable publication (n=2), therefore, a total of 13 trials in 11
Cochrane reviews were included in our systematic review (Figure A2). The trial characteristics are
summarised in Table 1. Most commonly, PCOS patients were recruited from obstetrics and
gynaecology clinics (40%) and fertility clinics (35%), with very few research teams recruiting from
the community (4%). The majority of endometriosis patients were recruited from obstetrics and
gynaecology clinics (85%).
Table 1 - Characteristics of RCTs identified in PCOS and endometriosis
Demographics PCOS
(n=89)
Endo
(n=13)
Included in Cochrane Review
Yes
No
62 (70%)
27 (30%)
12 (92%)
1 (8%)
Number Randomised
Median (IQR)
Minimum
Maximum
87 (50, 122)
15
1000
130 (60, 159)
40
360
Type of Trial
Parallel
Crossover
Factorial
87 (98%)
1 (1%)
1 (1%)
13 (100%)
-
-
Intervention Type
Medical
Surgical
Lifestyle
Alternative
Medical & Surgical
Medical & Lifestyle
Medical & Alternative
Lifestyle & Alternative
54 (58%)
8 (9%)
7 (8%)
10 (11%)
5 (5%)
1 (1%)
5 (5%)
7 (3%)
4 (31%)
5 (38%)
-
-
4 (31%)
-
-
-
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*Other = Acupuncture, Morphology, Nutrition, Physiopathology, Medical and Surgical sciences, Urology.
3.2 Trial strategies
Only 7 trials included in this review reported the number of participants excluded pre-randomisation,
for outcome-based reasons. However, these 7 trials excluded a total of 990 participants (median 16,
IQR: 4-229, minimum: 3, maximum: 704). To give context to this, the total sample size accrued by
these 7 trials was 2744 (median 172, IQR: 46-750, minimum: 45, maximum: 1000).
The most common strategy used by researchers in PCOS and endometriosis was Restricted Eligibility
(55% and 46%, respectively). In PCOS, we found that over half of the trials that used Restricted
Eligibility focused solely on fertility-based outcomes (59%), demonstrated in Table 2. For
endometriosis there was more variation in the outcomes reported, with a third (33%) of Restricted
Eligibility studies reporting pain only outcomes and a third (33%) reporting fertility only outcomes.
Universal Eligibility was the second most used, with 38% of PCOS trials using this approach. Of
these trials, the majority measured combinations of outcomes, most commonly choosing to measure
multiple clinical outcome combinations (41%) or fertility and other clinical outcomes (29%). There
were 31% of endometriosis trials that used this strategy. Similarly to the PCOS trials, they measured
combinations of outcomes: fertility and pain (50%) and patient important plus other outcomes (50%)
No PCOS trials and only one endometriosis trial that employed the Universal Eligibility strategy
made note of the numbers of patients experiencing the primary outcome at baseline. Therefore, we
were unable to calculate the ratio of patients not experiencing the primary outcome of interest in
relation to the sample size randomised.
Grouped Universal Eligibility was used in 15% of identified endometriosis trials, and only 1% in
PCOS trials. The Upstream Outcome strategy was used in 8% of endometriosis trials, and 6% of
PCOS trials. There were no instances where the Patient-specific Outcome, Composite Outcome or
Downstream Outcome strategies were used.
There was no significant difference in the strategies used in pre-2017 compared to 2017 and after in
PCOS (p=0.76) or endometriosis (p=0.63). Interventions tested were also not significantly different
between trial strategies in PCOS (p=0.05) or endometriosis (p=0.27). When comparing the studies
which could plausibly have been included in a primary analysis, using the RoB assessment, only 5 out
of the 102 possible PCOS and endometriosis trials were classified as low risk.
3.3 Review-level findings
Of the 27 trials excluded from the Cochrane reviews in PCOS, most were excluded as the authors of
the review were interested in fertility outcomes: 74% (n=20) because they were non-fertility studies,
Funding Source
Non-Commercial
Commercial
Mixed
None
No Info
28 (31%)
1 (1%)
3 (3%)
21 (24%)
36 (40%)
7 (54%)
2 (15%)
1 (8%)
-
3 (23%)
Multicentre
Yes
No
6 (7%)
83 (93%)
4 (31%)
9 (69%)
Setting
Fertility clinic
Obstetrics and gynaecology
Community
Other
31 (35%)
36 (40%)
5 (6%)
13 (15%)
0
11 (85%)
0
2 (15%)
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15% (n=4) were PCOS with or without infertility. The remaining trials were excluded for having no
outcomes of interest (n=2, 7%) and fertility outcomes only (n=1, 4%). These 27 trials had a median
number of 60 people randomised, (IQR: 45-88, minimum: 26, maximum: 233). Similarly, the trial
excluded from the endometriosis reviews was on the basis of not reporting the review’s outcome of
interest. Overall, the exclusion of trials on the basis of the outcomes they reported totalled 27% of
available RCTs (28/102).
Table 2 - Proportion of outcome combinations in each strategy.
Outcome
Combination
Strategy
Universal
Eligibility
Grouped Universal
Eligibility
Restricted
Eligibility
Upstream
Outcome
PCOS
(n=34)
Endo
(n=4)
PCOS
(n=1)
Endo
(n=2)
PCOS
(n=49)
Endo
(n=6)
PCOS
(n=5)
Endo
(n=1)
Fertility only 0 0 0 0 29
(59%)
2
(33%)
0 0
Pain only 0 0 0 0 0 2
(33%)
0 0
Fertility +
QoL + Other
clinical
outcome(s)
6
(18%)
0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Fertility +
Other clinical
outcome(s)*
10
(29%)
2
(50%)
1
(100%)
0 13
(26%)
0 0 0
QoL + Other
clinical
outcome(s)
4
(12%)
0 0 2
(100%)
0 1
(17%)
0 0
Clinical
outcome(s) +
Treatment
satisfaction
0 2
(50%)
0 0 0 1
(17%)
0 0
Other clinical
outcome
combinations
14
(41%)
0 0 0 7
(14%)
0 0 0
Biomarkers
only
0 0 0 0 0 0 5
(100%)
1
(100%)
Percentage given is within condition. *fertility + pain for endometriosis
4. Discussion
We conducted our systematic review to examine the current strategies used for the design of and
recruitment to randomised controlled trials, by researchers. We focused on PCOS and endometriosis
as exemplar conditions due to the heterogeneity of their symptoms, however, we anticipate the
findings to be applicable to gynaecological research in general, and in other conditions where patients
experience varying symptoms.
Systematic reviews are considered the gold standard of evidence for decision-making, used to collate,
critique and summarise evidence. However, we found that the Cochrane reviews included in this
review, excluded many trials, based on the outcomes they reported. Whilst at first glance, choosing a
research question, and selecting trials that report outcomes relating to that research question does not
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appear to be erroneous, there are issues with this. Our review considered only Cochrane reviews of
interventions which could, plausibly, be used regardless of symptoms. Where authors exclude trials
based on their outcomes, they are reducing the number of patients with data available to add to the
evidence base. Dwan and colleagues have previously discussed the prevalence and impact of
excluding studies from reviews on the basis of the relevance of outcome data, with further works
observing that doing so leads to potentially biasing the conclusions of systematic reviews, along with
waste in production and reporting of research [23, 24]. Therefore, it would be advantageous for
reviews to consider trials regardless of reported outcomes, and instead consider a multitude of
symptoms and outcomes that could plausibly be treated with the intervention under investigation. This
could in turn reduce the number of reviews needed, and hence waste from duplication of effort.
In order to tackle the demonstrated waste in gynaecological trials we need to focus first on improving
the quality of the research questions, ensuring they matter to patients and clinicians. Three of the
strategies we anticipated: Participant-specific Outcome, Composite Outcome, and Downstream
Outcome were not being utilised and require consideration. It is likely that these strategies are not
currently perceived as attractive to use as those that are more common. Participant-specific outcomes,
such as measuring a patient’s most bothersome symptom or allowing a patient to set their own
personalised goals, are relatively novel ideas, and although they have previously been used in
gynaecological trials, further consideration is needed for their statistical advantages [25, 26].
Composite outcomes allow research to address more than one aspect of a patient’s health status, but
their use is widely debated, with interpretation difficult [27-30]. Similarly, although a well-established
instrument for providing evidence of an individual’s physical, emotional and social health,
interpretation of treatment effect can also be difficult when using a quality-of-life measurement. Cox
et al suggests that “in practice the main difficulty is likely to be in separating the real treatment-by-
individual interaction from noise” [31].
In the current research landscape, we are typically seeing two main strategies employed in
gynaecological trials, which we refer to as Universal Eligibility and Restricted Eligibility. In the first,
outcomes measured are of relevance to everybody in the trial. This means patients are excluded due to
stringent inclusion criteria and are unable to be involved in a trial of treatment that may be of clinical
benefit to them. Secondly and conversely, some trials include participants which are not experiencing
the symptom at baseline, resulting in the inability to provide useful information, as they cannot
contribute to the outcome of interest. For example, researchers record BMI as an outcome for patients
not overweight at baseline. In April 2022, the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecology
(RCOG) reported that gynaecological care waiting lists in England had grown the most substantially
compared to any other medical specialty, seeing an over 60% increase on pre-pandemic levels [32].
There is no shortage of people seeking and requiring gynaecological treatment. Both of the strategies
this review identified as most prevalent in gynaecological research do not utilise the potential
population and are inefficient, often leading to research that lacks in impact and results in waste.
5. Conclusions
As a minimum, participants whose symptoms could potentially benefit from any specific treatment
should have a chance to receive said treatment. This research identified multiple sources of waste in
the current gynaecological research landscape. We have shown that the population of patients
available is often under-utilised by excluding patients based on the outcomes measured, or
alternatively, researchers are measuring outcomes in patients who do not experience the associated
symptom(s).
Gynaecological patients experience heterogeneity in their symptoms and therefore it is crucial to
employ patient-specific outcome measures. Not only would this reduce research waste from a budget
and resource perspective, it would also, most importantly, alleviate patient burden.
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Acknowledgements
The authors thank the Public Patient Involvement group that have given their time to help support this
research and shape the strategies developed.
Authors’ contributions
Katie Stocking: Conceptualization; Data curation; Formal analysis; Methodology; Writing – Original
draft preparation. Andrew Watson: Conceptualization; Data curation; Validation; Writing –
Reviewing and editing. Jamie J Kirkham: Conceptualization; Methodology; Supervision; Writing –
Reviewing and editing. Jack Wilkinson: Methodology; Supervision; Writing – Reviewing and editing
Andy Vail: Conceptualization; Methodology; Supervision; Writing – Reviewing and editing.
Funding
Katie Stocking, Doctoral Research Fellow (NIHR301756), is funded by the National Institute for
Health and Care Research (NIHR) for this research project. The views expressed in this publication
are those of the author(s) and not necessarily those of the NIHR, NHS or the UK Department of
Health and Social Care.
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