PT - JOURNAL ARTICLE AU - Miso Krsticevic AU - Svjetlana Dosenovic AU - Daiana Anne-Marie Dimcea AU - Dominika Jedrzejewska AU - Ana Catarina Marques Lameirão AU - Eliana Santos Almeida AU - Antonia Jelicic Kadic AU - Milka Jeric Kegalj AU - Krste Boric AU - Livia Puljak TI - Outcome Domains, Outcome Measures, and Characteristics of Randomized Controlled Trials Testing Nonsurgical Interventions for Osteoarthritis AID - 10.3899/jrheum.180985 DP - 2019 Mar 15 TA - The Journal of Rheumatology PG - jrheum.180985 4099 - http://www.jrheum.org/content/early/2019/06/11/jrheum.180985.short 4100 - http://www.jrheum.org/content/early/2019/06/11/jrheum.180985.full AB - Objective Core outcome set (COS) is the minimum set of outcome domains that should be measured and reported in clinical trials. We analyzed outcome domains, prevalence of use of COS published by Outcome Measures in Rheumatology (OMERACT) initiative, outcome measures for outcome domains recommended by OMERACT COS, duration and size of randomized controlled trials (RCT) testing nonsurgical interventions for osteoarthritis (OA). Methods We searched PubMed and analyzed RCT about nonsurgical interventions for OA published from June 2012 to June 2017. We extracted data about trial type, use of OMERACT COS, efficacy outcome domains, safety outcome domains, outcome measures used for COS assessment, duration, and sample size. Results Among 334 analyzed trials, complete OMERACT-recommended COS was used by 14% of trials. Higher median prevalence of using OMERACT COS was found in trials explicitly described as phase III, and trials of pharmacological interventions with followup ≥ 1 year, but both with wide range of COS usage. Trialists used numerous different outcome measures for analyzing core outcome domains: 50 different outcome measures for pain, 74 for physical function, 9 for patient’s global assessment, and 5 for imaging. Conclusion Suboptimal use of recommended COS and heterogeneity of outcome measures is reducing quality and comparability of OA trials and hinders conclusions about efficacy and comparative efficacy of nonsurgical interventions. Interventions for improving study design of trials in this field would be beneficial.