title: Invited review: Recommendations for reporting intervention studies on reproductive performance in dairy cattle: Improving design, analysis, and interpretation of research on reproduction.
abstract: Abundant evidence from the medical, veterinary, and animal science literature demonstrates that there is substantial room for improvement of the clarity, completeness, and accuracy of reporting of intervention studies. More rigorous reporting guidelines are needed to improve the quality of data available for use in comparisons of outcomes (or meta-analyses) of multiple studies. Because of the diversity of factors that affect reproduction and the complexity of interactions between these, a systematic approach is required to design, conduct, and analyze basic and applied studies of dairy cattle reproduction. Greater consistency, clarity, completeness, and correctness of design and reporting will improve the value of each report and allow for greater depth of evaluation in meta-analyses. Each of these benefits will improve understanding and application of current knowledge and better identify questions that require additional modeling or primary research. The proposed guidelines and checklist will aid in the design, conduct, analysis, and reporting of intervention studies. We propose an adaptation of the REFLECT (Reporting Guidelines for Randomized Controlled Trials for Livestock and Food Safety) statement to provide guidelines and a checklist specific to reporting intervention studies in dairy cattle reproduction. Furthermore, we provide recommendations that will assist investigators to produce studies with greater internal and external validity that can more often be included in systematic reviews and global meta-analyses. Such studies will also assist the development of models to describe the physiology of reproduction.
authors.affiliation: Scibus, Camden, New South Wales, Australia 2570; Faculty of Veterinary Science, University of Sydney, Camden, New South Wales, Australia 2570. Electronic address: ianl@sbscibus.com.au.
authors.forename: Ian J
authors.initials: IJ
authors.lastname: Lean
authors.affiliation: Department of Animal Sciences, University of Missouri, Columbia 65211.
authors.forename: Matthew C
authors.initials: MC
authors.lastname: Lucy
authors.affiliation: Department of Animal Sciences, Washington State University, Pullman 99164-6310.
authors.forename: John P
authors.initials: JP
authors.lastname: McNamara
authors.affiliation: Department of Animal Sciences and Industry, Kansas State University, Manhattan 66506.
authors.forename: Barry J
authors.initials: BJ
authors.lastname: Bradford
authors.affiliation: Arm & Hammer Animal Nutrition, Church & Dwight Co. Inc., Princeton, NJ 08543.
authors.forename: Elliot
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Block
authors.affiliation: Department of Animal and Range Sciences, Montana State University, PO Box 172900, Bozeman 59717-2900.
authors.forename: Jennifer M
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Thomson
authors.affiliation: Jemora Pty Ltd., PO Box 2277, Geelong, Victoria, Australia 3220.
authors.forename: John M
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Morton
authors.affiliation: Faculty of Veterinary Science, University of Sydney, Camden, New South Wales, Australia 2570.
authors.forename: Pietro
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Celi
authors.affiliation: Dapto, Horsley, NSW 2530, Australia.
authors.forename: Ahmad R
authors.initials: AR
authors.lastname: Rabiee
authors.affiliation: Department of Animal Sciences, University of Florida, Gainesville 32611-0910.
authors.forename: José E P
authors.initials: JE
authors.lastname: Santos
authors.affiliation: Department of Animal Sciences, University of Florida, Gainesville 32611-0910.
authors.forename: William W
authors.initials: WW
authors.lastname: Thatcher
authors.affiliation: Population Medicine, Ontario Veterinary College, University of Guelph, Guelph, Ontario, Canada N1G 2W1.
authors.forename: Stephen J
authors.initials: SJ
authors.lastname: LeBlanc
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D002417:Cattle / Q000502:physiology*; D002986:Clinical Trials as Topic; D003612:Dairying; D005260:Female; D015201:Meta-Analysis as Topic; D012098:Reproduction
keywords: meta-analysis; metabolic disease definition; reporting guidelines; reproduction; study design