Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2012 May 29:10:51.
doi: 10.1186/1741-7015-10-51.

Reporting recommendations for tumor marker prognostic studies (REMARK): explanation and elaboration

Douglas G Altman  1 , Lisa M McShane, Willi Sauerbrei, Sheila E Taube
Affiliations

Reporting recommendations for tumor marker prognostic studies (REMARK): explanation and elaboration

Douglas G Altman et al. BMC Med. .

Abstract

Background: The Reporting Recommendations for Tumor Marker Prognostic Studies (REMARK) checklist consists of 20 items to report for published tumor marker prognostic studies. It was developed to address widespread deficiencies in the reporting of such studies. In this paper we expand on the REMARK checklist to enhance its use and effectiveness through better understanding of the intent of each item and why the information is important to report.

Methods: REMARK recommends including a transparent and full description of research goals and hypotheses, subject selection, specimen and assay considerations, marker measurement methods, statistical design and analysis, and study results. Each checklist item is explained and accompanied by published examples of good reporting, and relevant empirical evidence of the quality of reporting. We give prominence to discussion of the 'REMARK profile', a suggested tabular format for summarizing key study details.

Summary: The paper provides a comprehensive overview to educate on good reporting and provide a valuable reference for the many issues to consider when designing, conducting, and analyzing tumor marker studies and prognostic studies in medicine in general. To encourage dissemination of the Reporting Recommendations for Tumor Marker Prognostic Studies (REMARK): Explanation and Elaboration, this article has also been published in PLoS Medicine.

PubMed Disclaimer

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Example of a participant flow diagram. [177]
Figure 2
Figure 2
Frequency distribution of Steroid Receptor RNA Activator Protein (SRAP) H-scores in 372 breast tumors, showing median of 76.67 used to delineate low and high subgroups [179] (for a secondary example see Figure 1 in [29]).
Figure 3
Figure 3
Kaplan-Meier plot for disease-free survival comparing patients with HU177 concentrations above and below the median value. [178].
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. McShane LM, Altman DG, Sauerbrei W, Taube SE, Gion M, Clark GM. REporting recommendations for tumour MARKer prognostic studies (REMARK) Br J Cancer. 2005;93:387–391. - PMC - PubMed
    1. McShane LM, Altman DG, Sauerbrei W, Taube SE, Gion M, Clark GM. Reporting recommendations for tumor marker prognostic studies (REMARK) J Natl Cancer Inst. 2005;97:1180–1184. - PubMed
    1. McShane LM, Altman DG, Sauerbrei W, Taube SE, Gion M, Clark GM. REporting recommendations for tumour MARKer prognostic studies (REMARK) Eur J Cancer. 2005;41:1690–1696. - PubMed
    1. McShane LM, Altman DG, Sauerbrei W, Taube SE, Gion M, Clark GM. Reporting recommendations for tumor marker prognostic studies. J Clin Oncol. 2005;23:9067–9072. - PubMed
    1. McShane LM, Altman DG, Sauerbrei W, Taube SE, Gion M, Clark GM. REporting recommendations for tumor MARKer prognostic studies (REMARK) Nat Clin Pract Oncol. 2005;2:416–422. - PubMed

Publication types

Substances