Reporting of critical information in studies of pharmacists in HIV care

Abstract

Objective To evaluate manuscripts documenting HIV pharmacist interventions and assess adequacy of reporting as defined by CONSORT and STROBE criteria. Methods PubMed, EMBASE, Cochrane Library, Web of Science, BIOSIS Previews, and PsycINFO databases were searched from inception-6/1/2011. Studies were included if pharmacists performed an intervention to improve HIV patient care, and the study evaluated the intervention’s impact. Qualitative studies, non-English language reports, abstracts, and studies where the pharmacist did not intervene were excluded. Manuscripts were independently evaluated by two reviewers for the presence, absence, or lack of applicability of STROBE (observational studies) or CONSORT (randomized studies) criteria, for presence or absence of description of pharmacist’s duties, CD4+ cell count, HIV viral load, and adherence measurement. Reviewers met to discuss the rationale behind their evaluation; a third arbiter was consulted when reviewers could not agree on a particular criterion. Key findings Twenty-two manuscripts met inclusion criteria. Observational studies of HIV pharmacists (n=19) included 56% of applicable STROBE criteria. Randomized studies of HIV pharmacists (n=3) adhered more closely to CONSORT reporting guidelines (average 80% of applicable criteria). Manuscripts published after 2004 more consistently evaluated pharmacist impact on HIV outcomes such as CD4+ and viral load. Conclusions Thorough reporting increases the reader’s ability to critically evaluate manuscripts of HIV pharmacist services. Increasing pharmacist awareness of manuscript guidelines such as CONSORT and STROBE may improve clarity of reporting in studies of HIV pharmacist interventions and clinical programs.

Reporting quality of randomized controlled trials in patients with HIV on antiretroviral therapy: a systematic review

“…Some reports assessed the quality of reporting of adverse events using the CONSORT 2001 extension for adverse events reporting [ 5 , 6 ]. Another report targeted studies in which HIV interventions were performed by a pharmacist and their validity was assessed using the CONSORT 2010 statement and the Strengthening the Reporting of Observational Studies in Epidemiology (STROBE) Statement criteria [ 7 ]. A further report targeted non-inferiority RCTs [ 8 ] and yet another report evaluated the performance and reporting quality of RCTs aimed at prevention and treatment of HIV/AIDS in Africa [ 9 ].…”