Perioperative lifestyle and nutritional interventions’ details reporting in bariatric surgery trials according to the Template for Intervention Description and Replication (TIDieR) checklist: a cross-sectional study

Background

Metabolic and bariatric surgery (MBS) is considered the most effective treatment for people with severe obesity, and certain interventions could enhance its long-term results. The complete reporting of interventions’ details is necessary for their replication in clinical settings.

Objectives

To investigate the completeness of reporting of lifestyle and nutritional interventions applied in immediate perioperative period (30-days preoperatively and postoperatively) in patients undergoing MBS using the 12-item Template for Intervention Description and Replication (TIDieR) checklist, and to explore factors associated with compliant reporting.

Setting

A cross-sectional study.

Methods

We searched MEDLINE, Embase, and CENTRAL up to April 14 2024. The screening, extraction, and assessments were performed independently by 2 authors.

Results

Information from the manuscript, protocol, and supplementary materials in 72 trials comprising 76 interventions satisfied a mean of the 70.4% (standard deviation 16.5) of TIDieR items. Altogether, 6.6% of the interventions fulfilled all items. The lowest scoring items were adherence to intervention (item 12, reported in 51.3% of the interventions), modes of delivery (item 6, 42.1%), intervention provider (item 5, 38.3%), and fidelity assessment and maintenance planning (item 11, 23.7%). A total of 6.9% of the trials contained relevant information in the protocol or supplementary materials and 93.1% required contacting authors for clarifications. We identified the number of authors, availability of a study protocol, availability of supplementary materials, reporting of the compliance with the Consolidated Standards of Reporting Trials (CONSORT) guidelines, and reporting of a plan for dealing with missing outcome data as predictors of better reporting, while the Asian country of the corresponding author implied less compliant reporting.

Conclusions

The completeness of reporting of lifestyle and nutritional interventions applied in immediate perioperative period in patients undergoing MBS is suboptimal and, consequently, impedes their replication in clinical practice. A wider adoption of the TIDieR checklist by authors, reviewers, and journal editors should enhance the transparency, clarity, and transferability of research.