title: Variations in the reporting of outcomes used in systematic reviews of treatment effectiveness research in bladder pain syndrome.
abstract: This paper investigates the quality of outcomes reported in systematic reviews and randomised controlled trials (RCTs) of bladder pain syndrome and its relationship with study quality and journal impact factor. We searched until August 2013 the Cochrane Library, EMBASE, Medline, CINAHL, LILACS and SIGLE, without language restrictions. Quality of outcome reporting in systematic reviews and constituent RCTs was assessed using a 6-point scale. Overall study quality was assessed using the AMSTAR and Jadad scoring systems, and impact factor in the year of publication was noted. Spearman's rank correlation was calculated. There were 8 systematic reviews, with a total of 28 RCTs (1732 patients), reporting 5 outcomes using 19 different measurement scales. The outcomes reported in individual RCTs were urinary symptoms (100%), pain (64%), quality of life (39%), general wellbeing (36%) and bladder capacity (36%). The mean quality of outcomes reported was 1.63 (95% CI 0.29-2.96) for systematic reviews and 3.25 (95% CI 2.80-3.70) for RCTs. The quality of outcomes reported showed correlation with overall study quality (0.90, 95% CI 0.79-0.95, p<0.0001) but not with journal impact factor (0.07, 95% CI -0.31-0.43, p=0.35). Multivariable linear regression showed a relationship between quality of outcome reporting and study quality (β=0.05, p<0.0001), adjusting for effects of study type, impact factor and journal type. There is a need to generate consensus over a set of core outcomes in bladder pain syndrome using standardised reporting tools and to disseminate these through good publication practice.
authors.affiliation: Women's Health Research Unit, Barts and The London School of Medicine, Queen Mary, University of London, Turner Street, London E1 2AB, United Kingdom. Electronic address: s.a.tirlapur@qmul.ac.uk.
authors.forename: Seema A
authors.initials: SA
authors.lastname: Tirlapur
authors.affiliation: Barts and The London School of Medicine and Dentistry, London E1 2AB, United Kingdom.
authors.forename: Richeal
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Ni Riordain
authors.affiliation: Women's Health Research Unit, Barts and The London School of Medicine, Queen Mary, University of London, Turner Street, London E1 2AB, United Kingdom; Barts Health NHS Trust, The Royal London Hospital, Whitechapel Road, London E1 1BB, United Kingdom.
authors.forename: Khalid S
authors.initials: KS
authors.lastname: Khan
mesh_terms: D018856:Cystitis, Interstitial / Q000628:therapy*; D006801:Humans; D017063:Outcome Assessment, Health Care / Q000592:standards*; D016032:Randomized Controlled Trials as Topic / Q000592:standards*; D012196:Review Literature as Topic; D016896:Treatment Outcome
keywords: AMSTAR; Bladder pain syndrome; Core outcome set; Randomised controlled trials; Systematic review