What Do Ethical Guidelines for Epidemiology Say About an Ethics Review? A Qualitative Systematic Review

Abstract

Epidemiological research is subject to an ethics review. The aim of this qualitative review is to compare existing ethical guidelines in English for epidemiological research and public health practice in regard to the scope and matter of an ethics review. Authors systematically searched PubMed, Google Scholar and Google Search for ethical guidelines. Qualitative analysis (constant comparative method) was applied to categorize important aspects of the an ethics review process. Eight ethical guidelines in English for epidemiological research were retrieved. Five main categories that are relevant to the review of epidemiological research by Institutional Review Boards/Research Ethics Committees were distinguished. Within the scope of main categories, fifty-nine subcategories were analyzed. There are important differences between the guidelines in terms of the scope and matter of an ethics review. Not all guidelines encompass all identified ethically important issues, and some do not define precisely the scope and matter of an ethics review, leaving much to the ethics of the individual researchers and the discretion of IRBs/RECs.

Bridging research integrity and global health epidemiology (BRIDGE) guidelines: explanation and elaboration

“…Indeed, a recent review of ethical guidelines for epidemiology has shown that not all epidemiological or public health studies require an ethics review. 41 As a general rule, all studies involving primary data collection from human participants need to be reviewed ethically and scientifically by a competent and independent research ethics committees (REC) prior to the start of data collection. 42 43 Studies which perform secondary analysis of existing data may also require ethical review if the analyses fall outside the scope of the informed consent provided (or if no informed consent was provided).…”

Health of Syrian unaccompanied asylum seeking adolescents (UASA) at first medical examination in Germany in comparison to UASA from other world regions

“…The medical examinations within this study were mandatory for all newly arrived refugees, aiming to exclude infectious diseases. Therefore, these examinations were part of the routine public health surveillance and no ethics review was necessary [34].…”

Google Search as an Additional Source in Systematic Reviews

“…Marko Curkovic in his letter ( 2017 ) points out that using Google Search in our systematic review (Piasecki et al 2017 ) could have led to the so-called “bubble effect”, a form of selection bias. We take seriously this concern.…”