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. 2017 Jul 6;6(1):132.
doi: 10.1186/s13643-017-0525-4.

Protocol for a systematic review of N-of-1 trial protocol guidelines and protocol reporting guidelines

Antony J Porcino  1 , Salima Punja  1 , An-Wen Chan  2 , Richard Kravitz  3 , Aaron Orkin  4 , Philippe Ravaud  5 , Christopher H Schmid  6 , Sunita Vohra  7
Affiliations

Protocol for a systematic review of N-of-1 trial protocol guidelines and protocol reporting guidelines

Antony J Porcino et al. Syst Rev. .

Abstract

Background: N-of-1 trials are multiple cross-over trials done in individual participants, generating individual treatment effect information. While reporting guidelines for the CONSORT Extension for N-of-1 trials (CENT) and the Standard Protocol Items: Recommendations for Interventional Trials (SPIRIT) already exist, there is no standardized recommendation for the reporting of N-of-1 trial protocols.

Objective: The objective of this study is to evaluate current literature on N-of-1 design and reporting to identify key elements of rigorous N-of-1 protocol design.

Methods: We will conduct a systematic search for all N-of-1 trial guidelines and protocol-reporting guidelines published in peer-reviewed literature. We will search Medline, Embase, PsycINFO, CINAHL, the Cochrane Methodology Register, CENTRAL, and the NHS Economic Evaluation Database. Eligible articles will contain explicit guidance on N-of-1 protocol construction or reporting. Two reviewers will independently screen all titles and abstracts and then undertake full-text reviews of potential articles to determine eligibility. One reviewer will perform data extraction of selected articles, checked by the second reviewer. Data analysis will ascertain common features of N-of-1 trial protocols and compare them to the SPIRIT and CENT items.

Discussion: This systematic review assesses recommendations on the design and reporting of N-of-1 trial protocols. These findings will inform an international Delphi development process for an N-of-1 trial protocol reporting guideline. The development of this guideline is critical for improving the quality of N-of-1 protocols, leading to improvements in the quality of published N-of-1 trial research.

Keywords: Clinical protocols; Guidelines; N-of-1 trials; Single case experimental designs; Systematic review.

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