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Record W4407947630 · doi:10.1186/s13063-025-08756-3

Guidelines for the content of statistical analysis plans in clinical trials: protocol for an extension to cluster randomized trials

2025· article· en· W4407947630 on OpenAlexaff
Karla Hemming, Jacqueline Thompson, Richard Hooper, Obioha C. Ukoumunne, Fan Li, Agnès Caille, Brennan C Kahan, Clémence Leyrat, Michael J. Grayling, Nuredin Mohammed, JA Thompson, Bruno Giraudeau, Elizabeth L. Turner, Sam Watson, Beatriz Goulão, Jessica Kasza, Andrew Forbes, Andrew Copas, Monica Taljaard

Bibliographic record

VenueTrials · 2025
Typearticle
Languageen
FieldDecision Sciences
TopicMeta-analysis and systematic reviews
Canadian institutionsOttawa HospitalUniversity of Ottawa
FundersNational Center for Advancing Translational SciencesNational Institute for Health Research Applied Research Collaboration WestPatient-Centered Outcomes Research InstituteForeign, Commonwealth and Development OfficeMedical Research CouncilNational Institute for Health and Care Research
KeywordsRandomized controlled trialGuidelineProtocol (science)MedicineClinical trialRandomizationSample size determinationCluster randomised controlled trialExternal validityMedical physicsResearch designCluster (spacecraft)Data monitoring committeeData miningComputer scienceAlternative medicineStatisticsSurgeryPathology

Abstract

fetched live from OpenAlex

BACKGROUND: Guidance exists to inform the content of statistical analysis plans in clinical trials. Though not explicitly stated, this guidance is generally focused on clinical trials in which the randomization units are individual patients and not groups of patients. There are critical considerations for the analysis of cluster randomized trials, such as accounting for clustering, the risk of imbalances between the arms due to post-randomization recruitment, and the need to use small sample corrections when the number of clusters is small. METHODS: This paper outlines the protocol for the development of a set of reporting guidelines for the content of statistical analysis plans for cluster randomized trials (including variations such as the stepped wedge cluster randomized trial and other cluster cross-over designs) by extending the minimum reporting analysis requirements as previously defined for individually randomized trials to cluster randomized trials. The guideline will be developed using a consensus-based approach, modifying existing reporting items from the guideline for individually randomized trials and extending to include new items. DISCUSSION: The guideline will be developed so it can be used independently of the guideline for individually randomized designs. The consensus guidelines will be published in an open-access journal, including key guidance as well as exploration and elaboration.

Fetched live from OpenAlex and de-inverted. Abstracts are not stored in this database: the inverted indexes are 8.6 GB of the frame’s 9.3 GB of text, and the host has 13 GB free.

How this classification was reachedexpand

Full frame distilled prediction

Teacher imitation

Not calibrated prevalence, not ground truth. Human validation pending. Learned from the 10,348 direct Codex labels and 10,348 direct Gemma labels. Candidate is the union of thresholded teacher heads; consensus is their intersection. These outputs are machine_predicted_unvalidated and are not human labels or direct frontier model labels.

metaresearch head score (Codex)0.950
metaresearch head score (Gemma)0.981
Version: codex-gemma-dda1882f352aValidation status: machine_predicted_unvalidated
Candidate categoriesMetaresearch, Meta-epidemiology (broad), Insufficient payload (model declined to judge)
Consensus categoriesMetaresearch, Meta-epidemiology (broad)
DomainCandidate signal: Methods · Consensus signal: Methods
Study designCandidate signal: Randomized trial · Consensus signal: none
GenreCandidate signal: Protocol · Consensus signal: none
Teacher disagreement score0.499
Threshold uncertainty score0.999

Codex and Gemma teacher scores by category

CategoryCodexGemma
Metaresearch0.9500.981
Meta-epidemiology (narrow)0.0000.000
Meta-epidemiology (broad)0.0410.015
Bibliometrics0.0010.002
Science and technology studies0.0000.000
Scholarly communication0.0010.000
Open science0.0020.000
Research integrity0.0000.000
Insufficient payload (model declined to judge)0.0020.000

Machine scores (provisional)

The two teacher heads of the student model, read on this work. A score orders the frame for review; it never asserts a category, and the validation status ships verbatim with every row.

Baseline scores from an immature model (maturity gate not passed, 7 training rounds). Scores rank; they never assert a category.

Opus teacher head0.985
GPT teacher head0.781
Teacher spread0.204 · how far apart the two teachers sit on this one work
Validation statusscore_only:v0-immature-baseline · verbatim from the scoring run: score_only means the number may rank works, and no category label ships from it

Classification

machine, unvalidated

Machine predicted; both teacher heads agree on what is shown here.

Study designRandomized trial
DomainMethods
GenreProtocol

How this classification was reached, model by model and score by score, is at the end of the page under "How this classification was reached".

Quick stats

Citations1
Published2025
Admission routes1
Has abstractyes

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