Rates of discontinuation and non-publication of endovascular stroke clinical studies: A cross-sectional analysis

Abstract

Background

The discontinuation and non-publication of clinical studies in various medical fields undermine research efforts and may bias the medical evidence base. This study investigates the prevalence and factors associated with these issues in endovascular stroke studies.

Methods

Clinical Trials.gov was searched for all studies registered from inception up till May 2022 and included patients with endovascular stroke. Publications from these studies were identified by extensive online searching using the NCT identifier number and other related keywords, and multiple logistic regression analysis was performed to identify characteristics associated with study discontinuation and non-publication.

Results

Our search yielded 88 endovascular stroke studies, all including both genders. Among these, 63 (71.6 %) were completed, and 25 (28.4 %) were discontinued. Of the completed studies, 40 (63.5 %) were published. The majority of trials were single-centric (57 %), had a large sample size of >=100 (53.4 %), involved only adults (97.6 %), and were primarily funded by non-industrial sources (70 %). Discontinuation was more frequent in smaller-sized, single-center trials, but the associations diminished after adjustment. The sample size was a significant predictor of non-publication even after adjustment.

Conclusion

There is evidence of non-dissemination bias in clinical studies of endovascular stroke. These biases distort the therapeutic information available to inform clinical practice and raise ethical concerns regarding exposing volunteering participants to potential risks without furthering practice.