- TARGET is a new guideline to increase public trust in studies using real-world data to investigate the benefit and harms of health and medical interventions.
- Researchers believe the guideline will assist patients, clinicians and policy makers
- The TARGET Guideline is free for use for those writing medical and healthcare observational studies.
Using real-world data from electronic medical records and registries helps researchers answer important medical and healthcare questions when randomised trials are not available or possible, with a new guideline released to improve the public's trust in these studies.
The TARGET Guideline was developed in a global initiative by researchers from Neuroscience Research Australia (NeuRA) and UNSW Sydney, as well as Harvard, Oxford and Johns Hopkins to improve how studies that use observational data are reported across all fields of medicine and health research.
"Studies that use observational data give us important real-world information about the benefits and harms of health and medical interventions when randomised trials are not available or possible and they inform the decisions of our doctors, patients and policy makers" said NeuRA's NHMRC Emerging Leadership Fellow, Dr Aidan Cashin.
"The TARGET guideline provides a clear reporting checklist to ensure important information is not missing. It helps researchers clearly define and report how they design and conducted their study to improve the usability and trustworthiness of findings.
"This solves key issues in observational studies by reducing the risk of bias and improving confidence in their findings."
The new international guideline, co-published by JAMA and The BMJ, sets out what researchers should report when they use every day healthcare data to compare health and medical interventions.
Making real-world results clearer and more impactful
"Real-world data and observational studies can provide critical information when designed and analysed using the principles of randomised trials," Dr Cashin said.
"These new guidelines ensure people reading the reports of these studies can see the key information clearly. That includes important basic information like who was studied, what treatments were compared, how outcomes were measured, and how fair the comparison was."
The guideline tells researchers exactly what to report so that others can judge the findings.
"When studies are clearly reported, it helps doctors and patients make better decisions about whether medicines and medical interventions are safe and effective and it helps policymakers make better decisions for our health services," Dr Cashin said.
"It supports journals, peer reviewers and guideline panels to apply consistent standards when assessing real-world evidence.
"It results in better reports and improved transparency."
The TARGET guideline has been co-published in JAMA and The BMJ, making it freely accessible to researchers everywhere. It is expected to increase trust in medical research and improve the quality of evidence used to guide health care worldwide.
