Analyzing factors associated with clinical trial publication in radiation oncology

Abstract

Clinical trials are considered the gold standard of clinical research and are sought in the medical literature for the goal of providing quality care. To identify factors associated with successful or unsuccessful publication of clinical trials in radiation oncology, data on trial characteristics were collected from the National Institutes of Health database on clinicaltrials.gov. To assess studies that had adequate time to accrue, trials between 2000 and 2005 were extracted by filtering for “radiation oncology”. Studies were excluded if they were incomplete, observational, Phase 4, or lacked sufficient method descriptions. Included studies underwent independent samples t-tests and Pearson Chi-Square bivariate analyses. 538 studies were candidates for analysis of clinical trial characteristics. United States (US) origin, multi-center sites, government funding, Phase III status, and randomized allocation were factors associated with increased publication rate. The number of study arms, study length, and number of participants were significantly greater in published trials. The review's results demonstrate potential barriers or facilitators to publication, and they suggest that publication status may be influenced by geographic, financial, and temporal characteristics of clinical trials. Understanding trial background factors that may impact publication improve data visibility and clinical advancements for all.

Keywords

• Publication bias
• Clinical trials
• Radiation oncology
• Evidence-based medicine
• Bioethics
• Research funding