UCL Discovery
UCL home » Library Services » Electronic resources » UCL Discovery

Central adjudication of serious adverse events did not affect trial's safety results: Data from the Efficacy of Nitric Oxide in Stroke (ENOS) trial

Godolphin, PJ; Montgomery, AA; Woodhouse, LJ; Bereczki, D; Berge, E; Collins, R; Diez-Tejedor, E; ... Sprigg, N; + view all (2018) Central adjudication of serious adverse events did not affect trial's safety results: Data from the Efficacy of Nitric Oxide in Stroke (ENOS) trial. PLoS One , 13 (11) , Article e0208142. 10.1371/journal.pone.0208142. Green open access

[thumbnail of Central adjudication of serious adverse events did not affect trials safety results Data from the Efficacy of Nitric Oxide i.pdf]
Preview
Text
Central adjudication of serious adverse events did not affect trials safety results Data from the Efficacy of Nitric Oxide i.pdf - Published Version

Download (541kB) | Preview

Abstract

Background and purpose Central adjudication of serious adverse events (SAEs) can be undertaken in clinical trials, especially for open-label studies where outcome assessment may be at risk of bias. This study explored the effect of central adjudication of SAEs on the safety results of the Efficacy of Nitric Oxide in Stroke (ENOS) Trial. Methods ENOS assigned patients with acute stroke at random to receive either transdermal glyceryl trinitrate (GTN) or no GTN and to Stop or Continue previous antihypertensive treatment. SAEs were reported by local investigators who were not blinded to treatment allocation. Central adjudicators, blinded to treatment allocation, reviewed the investigators reports and used evidence available to confirm or re-categorise the classification of event, likely causality, diagnosis and expectedness of event. Results Of 4011 patients enrolled in ENOS, 1473 SAEs were reported by local investigators; this was reduced to 1444 after the review by adjudicators, with 29 re-classified as not an SAE. There was fair agreement between investigators and adjudicators regarding likely causality, with 808 agreements and 644 disagreements (56% crude agreement, weighted kappa, κ = 0.31). Agreement increased upon dichotomisation of the causality categories, with 1432 agreements and 20 disagreements (99% crude agreement, kappa = 0.54). Repeating the main trial safety analysis with investigator reported events showed that adjudication had no effect on the main trial safety conclusions. Conclusions In a large trial, with many SAEs reported, central adjudication of these events did not affect trial conclusions. This suggests that adjudication of SAEs in a clinical trial where the intervention already has a well-established safety profile may not be necessary. Potential efficiency savings (financial, logistical) can be made through not adjudicating SAEs.

Type: Article
Title: Central adjudication of serious adverse events did not affect trial's safety results: Data from the Efficacy of Nitric Oxide in Stroke (ENOS) trial
Open access status: An open access version is available from UCL Discovery
DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0208142
Publisher version: https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0208142
Language: English
Additional information: © 2018 Godolphin et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
UCL classification: UCL
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences > Faculty of Population Health Sciences > Inst of Clinical Trials and Methodology
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences > Faculty of Population Health Sciences > Inst of Clinical Trials and Methodology > MRC Clinical Trials Unit at UCL
URI: https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/10083387
Downloads since deposit
33Downloads
Download activity - last month
Download activity - last 12 months
Downloads by country - last 12 months

Archive Staff Only

View Item View Item