Evidence map›Paper›PMID 35893670›Full record

ReviewViruses2022

A Hierarchical Framework for Assessing Transmission Causality of Respiratory Viruses.

Tom Jefferson, Carl J Heneghan, Elizabeth Spencer, Jon Brassey, Annette Plüddemann, Igho Onakpoya, David Evans, John Conly

Abstract readReview
PubMed Full text at PMC Publisher
In one paragraph

Review in Viruses, 2022. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 9 papers, 6 of them syntheses that pooled it.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
9citing papers in PubMed, 6 pooled it
–field-weighted citation impact
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

9 citing papers in PubMed, 6 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.

  1. Pooled it
  2. Pooled it
  3. Pooled it
  4. Pooled it
  5. Transmission of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2) from pre and asymptomatic infected individuals: a systematic review.Clinical microbiology and infection : the official publication of the European Society of Clinical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases · 2022
    Pooled it
  6. Pooled it
  7. Revisiting the personal protective equipment components of transmission-based precautions for the prevention of COVID-19 and other respiratory virus infections in healthcare.Euro surveillance : bulletin Europeen sur les maladies transmissibles = European communicable disease bulletin · 2023
    Article
  8. Review
  9. 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

8 authors.

Tom JeffersonDepartment for Continuing Education, University of Oxford, Rewley House, 1 Wellington Square, Oxford OX1 2JA, UK.
Carl J HeneghanNuffield Department of Primary Care Health Sciences, University of Oxford, Radcliffe Observatory Quarter, Woodstock Road, Oxford OX2 6GG, UK.
Elizabeth SpencerNuffield Department of Primary Care Health Sciences, University of Oxford, Radcliffe Observatory Quarter, Woodstock Road, Oxford OX2 6GG, UK.
Jon BrasseyTrip Database Ltd., Little Maristowe, Glasllwch Lane, Newport NP20 3PS, UK.ORCID 0000-0002-7812-6311
Annette PlüddemannNuffield Department of Primary Care Health Sciences, University of Oxford, Radcliffe Observatory Quarter, Woodstock Road, Oxford OX2 6GG, UK.
Igho OnakpoyaDepartment for Continuing Education, University of Oxford, Rewley House, 1 Wellington Square, Oxford OX1 2JA, UK.
David EvansLi Ka Shing Institute of Virology, Department of Medical Microbiology & Immunology, University of Alberta, Edmonton, AB T6G 2R3, Canada.ORCID 0000-0001-5871-299X
John ConlyCentre for Antimicrobial Resistance, Alberta Health Services, Alberta Precision Laboratories, University of Calgary, Calgary, AB T2N 4N1, Canada.

Funding

Department of Health 569
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Systematic reviews of 591 primary studies of the modes of transmission for SARS-CoV-2 show significant methodological shortcomings and heterogeneity in the design, conduct, testing, and reporting of SARS-CoV-2 transmission. While this is partly understandable at the outset of a pandemic, evidence rules of proof for assessing the transmission of this virus are needed for present and future pandemics of viral respiratory pathogens. We review the history of causality assessment related to microbial etiologies with a focus on respiratory viruses and suggest a hierarchy of evidence to integrate clinical, epidemiologic, molecular, and laboratory perspectives on transmission. The hierarchy, if applied to future studies, should narrow the uncertainty over the twin concepts of causality and transmission of human respiratory viruses. We attempt to address the translational gap between the current research evidence and the assessment of causality in the transmission of respiratory viruses with a focus on SARS-CoV-2. Experimentation, consistency, and independent replication of research alongside our proposed framework provide a chain of evidence that can reduce the uncertainty over the transmission of respiratory viruses and increase the level of confidence in specific modes of transmission, informing the measures that should be undertaken to prevent transmission.

Indexed as

COVID-19VirusesHumansPandemicsSARS-CoV-2causationevidence hierarchyrespiratory pathogensSARS-CoV-2viral transmission

Identifiers

PMID35893670
PMCPMC9332164

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
LicenceCC BY
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.