Article type
Year
Abstract
Background: The World Health Organization (WHO) International Clinical Trials Registry Platform (ICTRP) is a central repository for clinical trials regularly updated from 15 primary and three partner registries worldwide, the former meeting requirements of the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors. As such, it has the potential to be a valuable one-stop access point to identify on-going, recently completed and unpublished trials, negating the need for multiple searches across multiple registries. However, whilst the WHO ICTRP includes the Clinicaltrials.gov registry, the current methodological standards for Cochrane Reviews stipulate the mandatory search of both, questioning its functionality and utility.
Objectives: This study aims to assess the functionality and utility of the WHO ICTRP as a ‘one-stop shop’ for identifying clinical trials by comparing search facilities and outputs with those from the original primary trials registers.
Methods: Using specific musculoskeletal conditions as examples, WHO ICTRP and its 15 primary registries, will be searched individually to identify relevant clinical trials: simple (condition only) and more complex (e.g. stipulating interventions, trial end or registration dates) searches will be undertaken and search outputs compared for agreement.
Results and Conclusions: We will present results to clarify whether WHO’s ICTRP offers a valuable ‘one-stop shop’ for retrieving clinical trial information, or whether the additional time implicit in searching the original trials registries is time well spent in terms of acquiring a comprehensive overview of registered trials. We will also present an assessment of the search capabilities, information attainable and handling of search outputs of each of the included registries and discuss the implications for Cochrane Reviews and other systematic reviews.
Objectives: This study aims to assess the functionality and utility of the WHO ICTRP as a ‘one-stop shop’ for identifying clinical trials by comparing search facilities and outputs with those from the original primary trials registers.
Methods: Using specific musculoskeletal conditions as examples, WHO ICTRP and its 15 primary registries, will be searched individually to identify relevant clinical trials: simple (condition only) and more complex (e.g. stipulating interventions, trial end or registration dates) searches will be undertaken and search outputs compared for agreement.
Results and Conclusions: We will present results to clarify whether WHO’s ICTRP offers a valuable ‘one-stop shop’ for retrieving clinical trial information, or whether the additional time implicit in searching the original trials registries is time well spent in terms of acquiring a comprehensive overview of registered trials. We will also present an assessment of the search capabilities, information attainable and handling of search outputs of each of the included registries and discuss the implications for Cochrane Reviews and other systematic reviews.