ArticleBMJ open respiratory research2022
Large scale clinical trials: lessons from the COVID-19 pandemic.
Article in BMJ open respiratory research, 2022. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 14 papers, 2 of them syntheses that pooled 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.
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.
Who cites it
14 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.
- Role of recruitment bias in stepped-wedge cluster randomised controlled trials: a systematic review.BMJ open · 2025Pooled it
- Repurposed drug studies on the primary prevention of SARS-CoV-2 infection during the pandemic: systematic review and meta-analysis.BMJ open respiratory research · 2023Pooled it
- Protocol implementation during the COVID-19 pandemic: experiences from a randomized trial of stress ulcer prophylaxis.BMC medical research methodology · 2024Trial
- Trial
- Clinical Trial Simulation: Planning With the OCTAVE Framework, Implementation and Validation Principles.Statistics in medicine · 2026Article
- Changes in Probiotic Lachnospiraceae Genera Across Different Stages of COVID-19: A Meta-Analysis of 16S rRNA Microbial Data.Microorganisms · 2025Article
- PEARLES challenges and solutions to the implementation of clinical research responses to epidemics and pandemics: a scoping review.EClinicalMedicine · 2025Review
- Therapeutic potential of microbiome modulation in reproductive cancers.Medical oncology (Northwood, London, England) · 2025Review
- Article
- A Review of Acupuncture for the Treatment of Dry Eye Syndrome: Mechanisms, Efficacy, and Clinical Implications.International journal of general medicine · 2025Review
- Study protocol: A randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial of isavuconazole prophylaxis for the prevention of covid-19-associated pulmonary aspergillosis.Contemporary clinical trials communications · 2024Article
- Lessons identified for a future pandemic.The Journal of antimicrobial chemotherapy · 2023Article
- Impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on non-COVID-19 community-acquired pneumonia: a retrospective cohort study.BMJ open respiratory research · 2023Article
- Early-phase clinical trials in a pandemic: learning from the response to COVID-19.The Lancet. Respiratory medicine · 2022Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
17 authors.
Funding
Abstract
backgroundThe COVID-19 pandemic has presented substantial new challenges to clinical and research teams. Our objective was to analyse the experience of investigators and research delivery staff regarding the research response to COVID-19 in order to identify these challenges as well as solutions for future pandemic planning.
methodsWe conducted a survey of diverse research staff involved in delivery of COVID-19 clinical trials across the UK. This was delivered online across centres linked to the NIHR Respiratory Translational Research Collaboration. Responses were analysed using a formal thematic analysis approach to identify common themes and recommendations.
results83 survey participants from ten teaching hospitals provided 922 individual question responses. Respondents were involved in a range of research delivery roles but the largest cohort (60%) was study investigators. A wide range of research experiences were captured, including early and late phase trials. Responses were coded into overarching themes. Among common observations, complex protocols without adaptation to a pandemic were noted to have hampered recruitment. Recommendations included the need to develop and test pandemic-specific protocols, and make use of innovations in information technology. Research competition needs to be avoided and drug selection processes should be explicitly transparent.
conclusionsDelivery of clinical trials, particularly earlier phase trials, in a pandemic clinical environment is highly challenging, and was reactive rather than anticipatory. Future pandemic studies should be designed and tested in advance, making use of pragmatic study designs as far as possible and planning for integration between early and later phase trials and regulatory frameworks.
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Registered trials
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.