The groups of this focal area are dedicated to various questions within public health research. One focus is on the advancement of clinical research methods.

• Autistic children and children with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD)
• Biomedical ethics
• Cancer prevention + cancer control
• Empirical mixed-method research on randomised controlled trials, in particular on different types of study discontinuation and patient recruitment
• Epidemiology of chronic diseases
• Evidence-based health care, comparative effectiveness research
• Evidence-based insurance medicine
• Psychosomatic multimorbidities
• Result and process research in internal medicine
• Surgical complications and their treatment
• The influence of environmental factors on health

Effects of remdesivir in patients hospitalised with COVID-19: a systematic review and individual patient data meta-analysis of randomised controlled trials. Amstutz A, Speich B, Mentré F, Rueegg CS, Belhadi D, Assoumou L, Burdet C, Murthy S, Dodd LE, Wang Y, Tikkinen KAO, Ader F, Hites M, Bouscambert M, Trabaud MA, Fralick M, Lee TC, Pinto R, Barratt-Due A, Lund-Johansen F, Müller F, Nevalainen OPO, Cao B, Bonnett T, Griessbach A, Taji Heravi A, Schönenberger C, Janiaud P, Werlen L, Aghlmandi S, Schandelmaier S, Yazdanpanah Y, Costagliola D, Olsen IC, Briel M. Lancet Respir Med. 2023 Feb 21:S2213-2600(22)00528-8. doi: 10.1016/S2213-2600(22)00528-8. Epub ahead of print. PMID: 36828006.

Introducing the Library of Guidance for Health Scientists (LIGHTS): A Living Database for Methods Guidance. Hirt J, Schönenberger CM, Ewald H, Lawson DO, Papola D, Rohner R, Suter K, Lin S, Germini F, Zeng L, Shahabinezhad A, Chowdhury SR, Gao Y, Bhattacharjee A, Lima JP, Marusic A, Buljan I, Agarwal A, Guyatt GH, Briel M, Schandelmaier S. JAMA Netw Open. 2023 Feb 1;6(2):e2253198. doi: 10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2022.53198. PMID: 36787138.

Instruments assessing risk of bias of randomized trials frequently included items that are not addressing risk of bias issues. Wang Y, Ghadimi M, Wang Q, Hou L, Zeraatkar D, Iqbal A, Ho C, Yao L, Hu M, Ye Z, Couban R, Armijo-Olivo S, Bassler D, Briel M, Gluud LL, Glasziou P, Jackson R, Keitz SA, Letelier LM, Ravaud P, Schulz KF, Siemieniuk RAC, Brignardello-Petersen R, Guyatt GH. J Clin Epidemiol. 2022 Oct 28;152:218-225. doi: 10.1016/j.jclinepi.2022.10.018. Epub ahead of print. PMID: 36424692.

Antibody Response in Immunocompromised Patients After the Administration of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) Vaccine BNT162b2 or mRNA-1273: A Randomized Controlled Trial. Speich B, Chammartin F, Abela IA, Amico P, Stoeckle MP, Eichenberger AL, Hasse B, Braun DL, Schuurmans MM, Müller TF, Tamm M, Audigé A, Mueller NJ, Rauch A, Günthard HF, Koller MT, Trkola A, Briel M, Kusejko K, Bucher HC; Swiss HIV Cohort Study and the Swiss Transplant Cohort Study. Clin Infect Dis. 2022 Aug 24;75(1):e585-e593.

Nonregistration, discontinuation, and nonpublication of randomized trials: A repeated metaresearch analysis. Speich B, Gryaznov D, Busse JW, Gloy VL, Lohner S, Klatte K, Taji Heravi A, Ghosh N, Lee H, Mansouri A, Marian IR, Saccilotto R, Nury E, Kasenda B, Ojeda-Ruiz E, Schandelmaier S, Tomonaga Y, Amstutz A, Pauli-Magnus C, Bischoff K, Wollmann K, Rehner L, Meerpohl JJ, Nordmann A, Wong J, Chow N, Hong PJ, Mc Cord-De Iaco K, Sricharoenchai S, Agarwal A, Schwenkglenks M, Hemkens LG, von Elm E, Copsey B, Griessbach AN, Schönenberger C, Mertz D, Blümle A, von Niederhäusern B, Hopewell S, Odutayo A, Briel M. PLoS Med. 2022 Apr 27;19(4):e1003980.

Swiss HIV Cohort Study and the Swiss Transplant Cohort Study. Antibody response in immunocompromised patients after the administration of SARS-CoV-2 vaccine BNT162b2 or mRNA-1273: A randomised controlled trial. Speich B, Chammartin F, Abela IA, Amico P, Stoeckle MP, Eichenberger AL, Hasse B, Braun DL, Schuurmans MM, Müller TF, Tamm M, Audigé A, Mueller NJ, Rauch A, Günthard HF, Koller MT, Trkola A, Briel M, Kusejko K, Bucher HC; Clin Infect Dis. 2022 Mar 2:ciac169. doi: 10.1093/cid/ciac169. Epub ahead of print. PMID: 35234868; PMCID: PMC8903480.

Exploring reasons for recruitment failure in clinical trials: a qualitative study with clinical trial stakeholders in Switzerland, Germany, and Canada. Briel M, Elger BS, McLennan S, Schandelmaier S, von Elm E, Satalkar P.Trials. 2021 Nov 25;22(1):844. doi: 10.1186/s13063-021-05818-0. PMID: 34823582; PMCID: PMC8613940.

Swiss cost-effectiveness analysis of universal screening for Lynch syndrome of patients with colorectal cancer followed by cascade genetic testing of relatives Salikhanov I, Heinimann K, Chappuis P, Buerki N, Graffeo R, Heinzelmann V, Rabaglio M, Taborelli M, Wieser S, Katapodi MC. J Med Genet. 2021 Nov 15. Epub ahead of print.

Accelerating clinical trial implementation in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic: challenges, lessons learned and recommendations from DisCoVeRy and the EU-SolidAct EU response group. Diallo A, Trøseid M, Simensen VC, Boston A, Demotes J, Olsen IC, Chung F, Paiva JA, Hites M, Ader F, Arribas Lopez JR, Barratt-Due A, Melien Ø, Tacconelli E, Staub T, Greil R, Tsiodras S, Briel M, Esperou H, Mentre F, Eustace J, Saillard J, Delmas C, Le Mestre S, Dumousseaux M, Costagliola D, Røttingen JA, Yazdanpanah Y. Clin Microbiol Infect. 2021 Nov 8:S1198-743X(21)00612-1. doi: 10.1016/j.cmi.2021.10.011. Epub ahead of print. PMID: 34763056.

Accelerating clinical trial implementation in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic: challenges, lessons learned and recommendations from DisCoVeRy and the EU-SolidAct EU response group Diallo A, Trøseid M, Simensen VC, Boston A, Demotes J, Olsen IC, Chung F, Paiva JA, Hites M, Ader F, Arribas Lopez JR, Barratt-Due A, Melien Ø, Tacconelli E, Staub T, Greil R, Tsiodras S, Briel M, Esperou H, Mentre F, Eustace J, Saillard J, Delmas C, Le Mestre S, Dumousseaux M, Costagliola D, Røttingen JA, Yazdanpanah Y. Clin Microbiol Infect. 2021 Nov 8:S1198-743X(21)00612-1. Epub ahead of print.

Barriers and Facilitating Factors for Conducting Systematic Evidence Assessments in Academic Clinical Trials. McLennan S, Nussbaumer-Streit B, Hemkens LG, Briel M. JAMA Netw Open. 2021 Nov 1;4(11):e2136577. doi: 10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2021.36577. PMID: 34846522; PMCID: PMC8634056.

Reliability of Trial Information Across Registries for Trials With Multiple Registrations: A Systematic Review. Speich B, Gloy VL, Klatte K, Gryaznov D, Taji Heravi A, Ghosh N, Marian IR, Lee H, Mansouri A, Lohner S, Saccilotto R, Nury E, Chan AW, Blümle A, Odutayo A, Hopewell S, Briel M; Adherence to Spirit Recommendations (ASPIRE) Study Group. JAMA Netw Open. 2021 Nov 1;4(11):e2128898. doi: 10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2021.28898. PMID: 34724557.

A trial platform to assess approved SARS-CoV-2 vaccines in immunocompromised patients: first sub-protocol for a pilot trial comparing the mRNA vaccines Comirnaty® and COVID-19 mRNA Vaccine Moderna®. Speich B, Chammartin F, Smith D, Stoeckle MP, Amico P, Eichenberger AL, Hasse B, Schuurmans MM, Müller T, Tamm M, Dickenmann M, Abela IA, Trkola A, Hirsch HH, Manuel O, Cavassini M, Hemkens LG, Briel M, Mueller NJ, Rauch A, Günthard HF, Koller MT, Bucher HC, Kusejko K; study groups from the Swiss HIV Cohort Study and the Swiss Transplant Cohort Study. Trials. 2021 Oct 21;22(1):724. doi: 10.1186/s13063-021-05664-0. PMID: 34674742; PMCID: PMC8529365.

Adherence to SPIRIT Recommendations (ASPIRE) Study Group. Evaluation of Planned Subgroup Analysis in Protocols of Randomized Clinical Trials. Taji Heravi A, Gryaznov D, Schandelmaier S, Kasenda B, Briel M; JAMA Netw Open. 2021 Oct 1;4(10):e2131503. doi: 10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2021.31503. PMID: 34705015; PMCID: PMC8552052.

Reporting Transparency and Completeness in Trials: Paper 1: Introduction - Better reporting for disruptive clinical trials using routinely collected data. Hemkens LG, Juszczak E, Thombs BD. J Clin Epidemiol. 2021 Sep 12:S0895-4356(21)00297-3. doi: 10.1016/j.jclinepi.2021.09.017. Epub ahead of print. PMID: 34525407.

Reporting Transparency and Completeness in Trials: Paper 2 - Reporting of randomised trials using registries was often inadequate and hindered the interpretation of results. Cord KAM, Imran M, Rice DB, McCall SJ, Kwakkenbos L, Sampson M, Fröbert O, Gale C, Langan SM, Moher D, Relton C, Zwarenstein M, Juszczak E, Thombs BD; CONSORT Extension for Trials Conducted Using Cohorts and Routinely Collected Data Group. J Clin Epidemiol. 2021 Sep 12:S0895-4356(21)00292-4. doi: 10.1016/j.jclinepi.2021.09.012. Epub ahead of print. PMID: 34525408.

Reporting Transparency and Completeness in Trials: Paper 3 - Trials conducted using administrative databases do not adequately report elements related to use of databases. Imran M, Cord KM, McCall SJ, Kwakkenbos L, Sampson M, Fröbert O, Gale C, Hemkens LG, Langan SM, Moher D, Relton C, Zwarenstein M, Juszczak E, Thombs BD, On Behalf Of Consort Extension For Trials Conducted Using Cohorts And Routinely Collected Data Group. J Clin Epidemiol. 2021 Sep 11:S0895-4356(21)00290-0. doi: 10.1016/j.jclinepi.2021.09.010. Epub ahead of print. PMID: 34520851.

Reporting Transparency and Completeness in Trials: Paper 4 - Reporting of randomised controlled trials conducted using routinely collected electronic records - room for improvement. McCall SJ, Imran M, Hemkens LG, Cord KM, Kwakkenbos L, Sampson M, Jawad S, Zwarenstein M, Relton C, Langan SM, Moher D, Fröbert O, Thombs BD, Gale C, Juszczak E. J Clin Epidemiol. 2021 Sep 12:S0895-4356(21)00291-2. doi: 10.1016/j.jclinepi.2021.09.011. Epub ahead of print. PMID: 34525409.

The INSPIRE Population Survey: development, dissemination and respondent characteristics. Siqeca F, Obas K, Yip O, Stenz S, Vounatsou P, Briel M, Schwenkglenks M, Quinto C, Blozik E, Zeller A, Zullig LL, De Geest S, Deschodt M. BMC Med Res Methodol. 2021 Jun 24;21(1):131. doi: 10.1186/s12874-021-01329-3. PMID: 34162324; PMCID: PMC8223353.

Practices and Attitudes of Swiss Stakeholders Regarding Investigator-Initiated Clinical Trial Funding Acquisition and Cost Management. McLennan S, Griessbach A, Briel M; Making Randomized Trials Affordable (MARTA) Group. JAMA Netw Open. 2021 Jun 1;4(6):e2111847. doi: 10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2021.11847. PMID: 34076698; PMCID: PMC8173375.

Methods and results used in the development of a consensus-driven extension to the Consolidated Standards of Reporting Trials (CONSORT) statement for trials conducted using cohorts and routinely collected data (CONSORT-ROUTINE). Imran M, Kwakkenbos L, McCall SJ, McCord KA, Fröbert O, Hemkens LG, Zwarenstein M, Relton C, Rice DB, Langan SM, Benchimol EI, Thabane L, Campbell MK, Sampson M, Erlinge D, Verkooijen HM, Moher D, Boutron I, Ravaud P, Nicholl J, Uher R, Sauvé M, Fletcher J, Torgerson D, Gale C, Juszczak E, Thombs BD. BMJ Open. 2021 Apr 29;11(4):e049093. doi: 10.1136/bmjopen-2021-049093. PMID: 33926985; PMCID: PMC8094349.

CONSORT extension for the reporting of randomised controlled trials conducted using cohorts and routinely collected data (CONSORT-ROUTINE): checklist with explanation and elaboration. Kwakkenbos L, Imran M, McCall SJ, McCord KA, Fröbert O, Hemkens LG, Zwarenstein M, Relton C, Rice DB, Langan SM, Benchimol EI, Thabane L, Campbell MK, Sampson M, Erlinge D, Verkooijen HM, Moher D, Boutron I, Ravaud P, Nicholl J, Uher R, Sauvé M, Fletcher J, Torgerson D, Gale C, Juszczak E, Thombs BD. BMJ. 2021 Apr 29;373:n857. doi: 10.1136/bmj.n857. PMID: 33926904.

Mortality outcomes with hydroxychloroquine and chloroquine in COVID-19 from an international collaborative meta-analysis of randomized trials. Axfors C, Schmitt AM, Janiaud P, Van't Hooft J, Abd-Elsalam S, Abdo EF, Abella BS, Akram J, Amaravadi RK, Angus DC, Arabi YM, Azhar S, Baden LR, Baker AW, Belkhir L, Benfield T, Berrevoets MAH, Chen CP, Chen TC, Cheng SH, Cheng CY, Chung WS, Cohen YZ, Cowan LN, Dalgard O, de Almeida E Val FF, de Lacerda MVG, de Melo GC, Derde L, Dubee V, Elfakir A, Gordon AC, Hernandez-Cardenas CM, Hills T, Hoepelman AIM, Huang YW, Igau B, Jin R, Jurado-Camacho F, Khan KS, Kremsner PG, Kreuels B, Kuo CY, Le T, Lin YC, Lin WP, Lin TH, Lyngbakken MN, McArthur C, McVerry BJ, Meza-Meneses P, Monteiro WM, Morpeth SC, Mourad A, Mulligan MJ, Murthy S, Naggie S, Narayanasamy S, Nichol A, Novack LA, O'Brien SM, Okeke NL, Perez L, Perez-Padilla R, Perrin L, Remigio-Luna A, Rivera-Martinez NE, Rockhold FW, Rodriguez-Llamazares S, Rolfe R, Rosa R, Røsjø H, Sampaio VS, Seto TB, Shehzad M, Soliman S, Stout JE, Thirion-Romero I, Troxel AB, Tseng TY, Turner NA, Ulrich RJ, Walsh SR, Webb SA, Weehuizen JM, Velinova M, Wong HL, Wrenn R, Zampieri FG, Zhong W, Moher D, Goodman SN, Ioannidis JPA, Hemkens LG. Nat Commun. 2021 Apr 15;12(1):2349. doi: 10.1038/s41467-021-22446-z. PMID: 33859192.

Treatment effects in randomised trials using routinely collected data for outcome assessment versus traditional trials: meta-research study. Mc Cord KA, Ewald H, Agarwal A, Glinz D, Aghlmandi S, Ioannidis JPA, Hemkens LG. BMJ. 2021 Mar 3;372:n450. doi: 10.1136/bmj.n450. PMID: 33658187; PMCID: PMC7926294.

Association of Supporting Trial Evidence and Reimbursement for Off-Label Use of Cancer Drugs. Herbrand AK, Schmitt AM, Briel M, Ewald H, Goldkuhle M, Diem S, Hoogkamer A, Joerger M, Moffa G, Novak U, Hemkens LG, Kasenda B. JAMA Netw Open. 2021 Mar 1;4(3):e210380. doi: 10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2021.0380. PMID: 33651108; PMCID: PMC7926292.

Recruitment and Results Reporting of COVID-19 Randomized Clinical Trials Registered in the First 100 Days of the Pandemic. Janiaud P, Axfors C, Ioannidis JPA, Hemkens LG. JAMA Netw Open. 2021 Mar 1;4(3):e210330. doi: 10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2021.0330. PMID: 33646310.

Association of Convalescent Plasma Treatment With Clinical Outcomes in Patients With COVID-19: A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis. Janiaud P, Axfors C, Schmitt AM, Gloy V, Ebrahimi F, Hepprich M, Smith ER, Haber NA, Khanna N, Moher D, Goodman SN, Ioannidis JPA, Hemkens LG. JAMA. 2021 Feb 26. doi: 10.1001/jama.2021.2747. Epub ahead of print. PMID: 33635310.

Development of the Instrument to assess the Credibility of Effect Modification Analyses (ICEMAN) in randomized controlled trials and meta-analyses. Schandelmaier S, Briel M, Varadhan R, Schmid CH, Devasenapathy N, Hayward RA, Gagnier J, Borenstein M, van der Heijden GJMG, Dahabreh IJ, Sun X, Sauerbrei W, Walsh M, Ioannidis JPA, Thabane L, Guyatt GH. CMAJ. 2020 Aug 10;192(32):E901-E906. doi: 10.1503/cmaj.200077. PMID: 32778601.

Evaluating the credibility of anchor based estimates of minimal important differences for patient reported outcomes: instrument development and reliability study. Devji T, Carrasco-Labra A, Qasim A, Phillips M, Johnston BC, Devasenapathy N, Zeraatkar D, Bhatt M, Jin X, Brignardello-Petersen R, Urquhart O, Foroutan F, Schandelmaier S, Pardo-Hernandez H, Vernooij RW, Huang H, Rizwan Y, Siemieniuk R, Lytvyn L, Patrick DL, Ebrahim S, Furukawa T, Nesrallah G, Schünemann HJ, Bhandari M, Thabane L, Guyatt GH. BMJ. 2020 Jun 4;369:m1714. doi: 10.1136/bmj.m1714. PMID: 32499297; PMCID: PMC7270853.

Online randomized controlled experiments at scale: lessons and extensions to medicine. Kohavi R, Tang D, Xu Y, Hemkens LG, Ioannidis JPA. Trials. 2020 Feb 7;21(1):150. doi: 10.1186/s13063-020-4084-y.

Personalized prediction of smartphone-based psychotherapeutic micro-intervention success using machine learning. Meinlschmidt G, Tegethoff M, Belardi A, Stalujanis E, Oh M, Jung EK, Kim HC, Yoo SS, Lee JH. J Affect Disord. 2019 Nov 14. pii: S0165-0327(19)31212-1.doi: 10.1016/j.jad.2019.11.071. [Epub ahead of print]

Association of Communication Interventions to Discuss Code Status With Patient Decisions for Do-Not-Resuscitate Orders: A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis.Becker C, Lecheler L, Hochstrasser S, Metzger KA, Widmer M, Thommen EB, Nienhaus K, Ewald H, Meier CA, Rueter F, Schaefert R, Bassetti S, Hunziker S. JAMA Network Open. 2019 Jun 5;2(6):e195033. doi: 10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2019.5033.