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 Nov 7:12:168.
doi: 10.1186/1471-2288-12-168.

Reporting guidelines for modelling studies

Carol Bennett  1 , Douglas G Manuel
Affiliations

Reporting guidelines for modelling studies

Carol Bennett et al. BMC Med Res Methodol. .

Abstract

Background: Modelling studies are used widely to help inform decisions about health care and policy and their use is increasing. However, in order for modelling to gain strength as a tool for health policy, it is critical that key model factors are transparent so that users of models can have a clear understanding of the model and its limitations.Reporting guidelines are evidence-based tools that specify minimum criteria for authors to report their research such that readers can both critically appraise and interpret study findings. This study was conducted to determine whether there is an unmet need for population modelling reporting guidelines.

Methods: We conducted a review of the literature to identify: 1) guidance for reporting population modelling studies; and, 2) evidence on the quality of reporting of population modelling studies. Guidance for reporting was analysed using a thematic approach and the data was summarised as frequencies. Evidence on the quality of reporting was reviewed and summarized descriptively.

Results: There were no guidelines that specifically addressed the reporting of population modelling studies. We identified a number of reporting guidelines for economic evaluation studies, some of which had sections that were relevant population modelling studies. Amongst seven relevant records, we identified 69 quality criteria that have distinct reporting characteristics. We identified two papers that addressed reporting practices of modelling studies. Overall, with the exception of describing the data used for calibration, there was little consistency in reporting.

Conclusions: While numerous guidelines exist for developing and evaluating health technology assessment and economic evaluation models, which by extension could be applicable to population modelling studies, there is variation in their comprehensiveness and in the consistency of reporting these methods. Population modelling studies may be an area which would benefit from the development of a reporting guideline.

PubMed Disclaimer

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Flow diagram of records – guidelines for reporting modelling studies and evidence on the quality of reporting of modelling studies.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Weinstein MC, Toy EL, Sandberg EA, Neumann PJ, Evans JS, Kuntz KM, Graham JD, Hammitt JK. Modeling for health care and other policy decisions: uses, roles, and validity. Value Health. 2001;4:348–361. doi: 10.1046/j.1524-4733.2001.45061.x. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Kopec JA, Fines P, Manuel DG, Buckeridge DL, Flanagan WM, Oderkirk J, Abrahamowicz M, Harper S, Sharif B, Okhmatovskaia A, Sayre EC, Rahman MM, Wolfson MC. Validation of population-based disease simulation models: a review of concepts and methods. [Review] BMC Publ Health. 2010;10:710. doi: 10.1186/1471-2458-10-710. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Weinstein MC, O’Brien B, Hornberger J, Jackson J, Johannesson M, McCabe C, Luce BR. ISPOR Task Force on Good Research Practices. Principles of good practice for decision analytic modeling in health-care evaluation: report of the ISPOR Task Force on Good Research Practices–Modeling Studies. Value Health. 2003;6:9–17. doi: 10.1046/j.1524-4733.2003.00234.x. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Garrison LP. The ISPOR Good Practice Modeling Principles–a sensible approach: be transparent, be reasonable. Value Health. 2003;6:6–8. doi: 10.1046/j.1524-4733.2003.00003.x. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Enhancing the Quality and Transparency of Health Research (Equator Network) An introduction to reporting guidelines. http://www.equator-network.org Accessed 2012-03-01.

Publication types

LinkOut - more resources