Background: The COMET initiative outlined the need for the development and application of standardized sets of outcomes agreed by all stakeholders, including patients, known as a ‘core outcome set’. In order to allow the results of trials to be compared, contrasted and combined as appropriate, the defined core outcome set should be measured and reported in all trials of a specific health area. This need is particularly relevant in the field of addiction, where there is a considerable heterogeneity in outcomes and measures used.
Objectives: To analyze the variety of outcomes and measures used in randomized controlled trials assessing the effectiveness of pharmacological intervention for psychostimulant misuse, taken as an example to identify the most used outcomes and measures.
Methods: Cochrane Systematic Reviews published by the Cochrane Drugs and Alcohol Group up to the end of June 2015 and assessing the effectiveness of psychosocial interventions for drug and alcohol misuse will be analyzed. The following data will be reported: number of reviews and of included studies, a complete list of clinical outcomes and of different ways to measure each outcome, outcomes for which pooling of studies was possible and outcomes reported in the 'Summary of findings' table(s).
Results: Our preliminary results based on nine reviews with 121 included trials showed that the highest heterogeneity was found for drug use outcomes: use of dichotomous versus continuous outcomes; point abstinence versus continuous abstinence; different length of abstinence period considered; different time points for outcome assessment; self- reported versus objectives measures.
Conclusions will be presented at the Cochrane Colloquium 2015.
Conclusions: Our findings could be used in the process of defining an agreed core outcome set