Evidence map›Paper›PMID 35164574›Full record

ArticleNeurorehabilitation and neural repair2022

Inclusive Trial Designs in Acute Spinal Cord Injuries: Prediction-Based Stratification of Clinical Walking Outcome and Projected Enrolment Frequencies.

Adrian Cathomen, Laura Sirucek, Tim Killeen, Rainer Abel, Doris Maier, Norbert Weidner, Rüdiger Rupp, Torsten Hothorn, John D Steeves, Armin Curt and 1 more

Open access · hybridAbstract read
In one paragraph

Article in Neurorehabilitation and neural repair, 2022. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 4 papers.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
4citing papers in PubMed
1.2field-weighted citation impact, top 23% of its field
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

4 citing papers in PubMed, 9 citations in OpenAlex.

  1. Article
  2. Article
  3. Observational
  4. Article
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

11 authors at 6 institutions in 3 countries.

Adrian CathomenSpinal Cord Injury Center, 31031Balgrist University Hospital, Zurich, Switzerland.ORCID 0000-0002-7676-5849
Laura SirucekNeuroscience Center Zurich, University of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland.
Tim KilleenSpinal Cord Injury Center, 31031Balgrist University Hospital, Zurich, Switzerland.
Rainer AbelTrauma Center Bayreuth, Bayreuth, Germany.
Doris MaierEMSCI Study Group.
Norbert WeidnerEMSCI Study Group.
Rüdiger RuppEMSCI Study Group.
Torsten HothornEpidemiology, Biostatistics and Prevention Institute, University of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland.
John D SteevesICORD, Blusson Spinal Cord Centre, University of British Columbia and Vancouver Coastal Health, Vancouver, BC, Canada.
Armin CurtSpinal Cord Injury Center, 31031Balgrist University Hospital, Zurich, Switzerland.
Marc BolligerSpinal Cord Injury Center, 31031Balgrist University Hospital, Zurich, Switzerland.ORCID 0000-0001-9059-0304
University of Zurich · CHHeidelberg University · DEBayreuth Medical Center · DEBerufsgenossenschaftliche Unfallklinik Murnau · DEUniversitätsklinik Balgrist · CHVancouver Coastal Health · CA

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

backgroundNew therapeutic approaches in neurological disorders are progressing into clinical development. Past failures in translational research have underlined the critical importance of selecting appropriate inclusion criteria and primary outcomes. Narrow inclusion criteria provide sensitivity, but increase trial duration and cost to the point of infeasibility, while broader requirements amplify confounding, increasing the risk of trial failure. This dilemma is perhaps most pronounced in spinal cord injury (SCI), but applies to all neurological disorders with low frequency and/or heterogeneous clinical manifestations.

objectiveStratification of homogeneous patient cohorts to enable the design of clinical trials with broad inclusion criteria.

methodsProspectively-gathered data from patients with acute cervical SCI were analysed using an unbiased recursive partitioning conditional inference tree (URP-CTREE) approach. Performance in the 6-minute walk test at 6 months after injury was classified based on standardized neurological assessments within the first 15 days of injury. Functional and neurological outcomes were tracked throughout rehabilitation up to 6 months after injury.

resultsURP-CTREE identified homogeneous outcome cohorts in a study group of 309 SCI patients. These cohorts were validated by an internal, yet independent, validation group of 172 patients. The study group cohorts identified demonstrated distinct recovery profiles throughout rehabilitation. The baseline characteristics of the analysed groups were compared to a reference group of 477 patients.

conclusionURP-CTREE enables inclusive trial design by revealing the distribution of outcome cohorts, discerning distinct recovery profiles and projecting potential patient enrolment by providing estimates of the relative frequencies of cohorts to improve the design of clinical trials in SCI and beyond.

Indexed as

Nervous System DiseasesSpinal Cord InjuriesHumansRecovery of FunctionWalkingclinical trials methodology/study designgait disordersrehabilitationSpinal cord injurystratificationunbiased recursive partitioning

Identifiers

PMID35164574
PMCPMC9003761
OpenAlexW4212941330

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
LicenceCC BY-NC
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.