SynthesisTrials2025
Participant and trial characteristics reported in predictive analyses of trial attrition: an umbrella review of systematic reviews of randomised controlled trials across multiple conditions.
Synthesis in Trials, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 2 papers.
What it found
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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.
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.
Who cites it
2 citing papers in PubMed.
- Trial
- Survival analysis for predicting fitness app user churn.mHealth · 2025Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
5 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundTrial attrition poses several risks for the validity of randomised controlled trials (RCTs). To better understand attrition, studies have explored and identified predictors among participant and trial characteristics. Reviews of these have so far been limited to single conditions. We performed an umbrella review to explore which participant and trial characteristics are reported in predictive analyses of trial attrition in systematic reviews of RCTs across multiple conditions.
methodsWe searched MEDLINE, Embase, Web of Science and the Online Resource for Research in Clinical TriAls for systematic reviews of RCTs that evaluated associations between participant/trial characteristics and attrition. We included quantitative systematic reviews of adult populations that evaluated any participant/trial characteristic and any attrition outcome. Review quality was appraised using R-AMSTAR. A review-level narrative synthesis was conducted.
resultsWe identified 88 reviews of RCTs evaluating characteristics associated with attrition. Included reviews encompassed 33 different conditions. Over half (50/88, 56.8%) were of RCTs for psychological conditions. All but one examined trial characteristics (87/88, 98.9%) and fewer than half (42/88, 47.7%) evaluated participant characteristics. Reviews typically reported on participant age (33/42, 78.6%), sex (29/42, 69.1%) and the type (13/42, 31%) or severity (10/42, 23.8%) of an index condition. Trial characteristics typically reported on were intervention type (56/87, 64.4%), intervention frequency/intensity (29/87, 33.3%), intervention delivery/format (26/87, 29.9%), trial duration (16/87, 18.4%), publication/reporting year (15/87, 17.2%) and sample size (15/87, 31.9%). Retention strategies were rarely reported (2/87, 2.3%). No characteristic was examined for every condition. Some reviews of certain conditions found that age (12/33, 36.4%), intervention type (29/56, 51.8%) and trial duration (9/16, 56.3%) were associated with attrition, but no characteristic was reportedly associated across multiple conditions.
conclusionsAcross conditions, reviews conducting predictive analyses of attrition in RCTs typically report on several characteristics. These are participant age, sex and the type or severity of index condition, as well as the type, frequency or intensity and delivery or format of a trial intervention, trial duration, publication/reporting year and sample size. Future studies should consider exploring these characteristics as a core set when evaluating predictive factors of attrition in RCTs across multiple conditions. REGISTRATION: PROSPERO CRD42023398276.
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