Assessment of Reporting of Patient-Reported Outcomes in Randomized Controlled Trials for Interventions of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder.

Background: Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) has debilitating effects on quality of life. Patient-reported outcomes (PROs) assess changes in quality of life and serve as subjective measurements of patient experience. The aim of this study is to assess the completeness of PRO reporting within randomized controlled trials with interventions pertaining to PTSD.

Methods: This cross-sectional, meta-epidemiological study assessed the completeness of PRO reporting in RCTs investigating PTSD interventions. We searched multiple databases for published RCTs of PTSD interventions that used PROs as a primary or secondary outcome. We assessed PRO completeness using the PRO adaptation of the Consolidated Standards of Reporting Trial (CONSORT). We used a bivariate regression model to determine the association between trial characteristics and the completeness of reporting.

Results: After an initial screening of 5906 articles, our final sample of RCTs for inclusion was 43. The mean completeness of reporting of PROs was 58.4% (SD = 14.50). We found no significant associations between trial characteristics and completeness of the CONSORT-PRO adaptation.

Conclusion: Reporting of PROs was often incomplete among RCTs focused on PTSD. We believe that adherence to CONSORT-PRO will improve both PRO reporting and implementation into clinical practice to improve assessment of quality of life.