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. 2017 Mar-Apr;43(2):289-303.
doi: 10.1590/S1677-5538.IBJU.2016.0047.

Research prioritization of men's health and urologic diseases

Tyler Okland  1 , Chante Karimkhani  2 , Hannah Pederson  1 , Lindsay N Boyers  3 , Mark D Sawyer  4 , Kyle O Rove  5 , McCabe C Kenny  5 , Steven Steinberg  4   5 , Mohsen Naghavi  6 , Robert P Dellavalle  7   8   9
Affiliations

Research prioritization of men's health and urologic diseases

Tyler Okland et al. Int Braz J Urol. 2017 Mar-Apr.

Abstract

Objectives: We sought to determine whether disease representation in the Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews (CDSR) reflects disease burden, measured by the Global Burden of Disease (GBD) Study as disability-adjusted life-years (DALYs).

Materials and methods: Two investigators performed independent assessment of ten men's health and urologic diseases (MHUDs) in CDSR for systematic review and protocol representation, which were compared with percentage of total 2010 DALYs for the ten conditions. Data were analyzed for correlation using Spearman rank analysis.

Results: Nine of ten MHUDs were represented by at least one CDSR review. There was a poor and statistically insignificant positive correlation between CDSR representation and disease burden (rho = 0.42, p = 0.23). CDSR representation was aligned with disease burden for three conditions, greater than disease burden for one condition, and less than disease burden for six conditions.

Conclusions: These results yield high-quality estimates to inform future research prioritization for MHUDs. While prioritization processes are complex and multi-faceted, disease burden should be strongly considered. Awareness of research priority setting has the potential to minimize research disparities on a global scale.

Keywords: Infertility, Male; Men’s Health; Urologic Diseases.

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Conflict of interest statement

CONFLICT OF INTEREST

None declared.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1. Square pie chart representing percent of total DALY for ten men’s health and urologic diseases; area of each square/rectangle represents percentage of total burden.
Figure 2
Figure 2. Comparison of men’s health and urologic disease representation in the Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews with percent of 2010 DALYs from 291 conditions studied by GBD 2010.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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