health outcomes

April 24, 2020: The RECOVERY Trial: A UK National Platform Trial of Potential Treatments for Patients Hospitalised with COVID-19 (Martin Landray, PhD, FRCP)

Posted on by Gina Uhlenbrauck

Speaker

Martin Landray, PhD, FRCP
Professor of Medicine & Epidemiology
Nuffield Department of Population Health
University of Oxford, UK

Topic

The RECOVERY Trial: A UK National Platform Trial of Potential Treatments for Patients Hospitalised with COVID-19

Keywords

Coronavirus; Virus pandemic; COVID-19; SARS-CoV-2; RECOVERY Trial; Randomized trial; Epidemiology

Key Points

  • Between March 10 and April 3, 2020, the RECOVERY team developed the protocol, obtained regulatory and ethics approval, and enrolled 1,000 patients.
  • COVID-19 presents an unprecedented clinical challenge to the health system, staff, and patients. Even moderate effects from this study will be worthwhile in the generation of robust evidence.
  • RECOVERY follow up will involve linkage to national data sources for vital status and death certificates; coded hospital episode statistics (diagnoses, procedures); intensive care audit data and SARS-CoV-2 PCR laboratory results; and primary care and national outpatient prescribing data.

Discussion Themes

Informed consent for participants in the RECOVERY trial consists of a 2-page information sheet and single form written in plain language.

The urgency of this pandemic requires everyone to focus on what matters and leave orthodoxy, habits, and traditional practices behind. Our mindset has been altered by the COVID-19 disruptions and this public health crisis of extraordinary proportion.

For more information, visit the RECOVERY Trial website.

Tags
#pctGR, #COVID19, @Collaboratory1

April 17, 2020: The HERO Program: PCORnet® at Work to Create a Healthcare Worker Community for Rapid Cycle Evidence (Nakela Cook, MD, MPH; Josie Briggs, MD; Susanna Naggie, MD; Emily O’Brien, PhD; Russell Rothman, MD; Chris Forrest, MD, PhD)

Posted on by Gina Uhlenbrauck

Speakers

Nakela Cook, MD, MPH
Executive Director
PCORI

Josie Briggs, MD
Acting Chief Science Director
PCORI

Susanna Naggie, MD
Principal Investigator, HERO-HCQ Clinical Trial
Duke University

Emily O’Brien, PhD
Principal Investigator, HERO-Registry
Duke University

Russell Rothman, MD, MPP
Chair, HERO Steering Committee
Vanderbilt University

Chris Forrest, MD, PhD
Chair, HERO Registry
Children’s Hospital of Pennsylvania

Topic

The HERO Program: PCORnet® at Work to Create a Healthcare Worker Community for Rapid Cycle Evidence

Keywords

Coronavirus; Virus pandemic; COVID-19; PCORI; Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute; Frontline health workers; Hydroxychloroquine; Healthcare systems; HERO-HCQ

Key Points

  • With the onset of the coronavirus pandemic, the U.S. healthcare system faces an unprecedented stress test to adapt to meet new demands.
  • Those on the frontline of caring for patients—healthcare workers—are at risk of developing or transmitting COVID-19. Evidence is urgently needed to keep healthcare workers and their families safe and healthy, which ultimately will help protect us all.
  • The HERO (Healthcare Worker Exposure Response & Outcomes) Program has three broad focus areas to develop rapid evidence around healthcare workers’ outcomes related to COVID-19:
    • Emphasis on the adaptations in how healthcare is delivered
    • Emphasis on vulnerable populations
    • Emphasis on the well-being of the healthcare worker
  • HERO will consist of a registry study of healthcare workers and a randomized controlled trial called HERO-HCQ that will evaluate the safety and efficacy of hydroxychloroquine to prevent COVID-19 clinical infections in healthcare workers.

Discussion Themes

The goal of the HERO registry is to understand all aspects of healthcare workers’ lives—those with direct impact and those with indirect impact.

What mechanisms are you envisioning for new study proposals that would be conducted via the HERO platform?

Serologic testing will have a significant role in understanding prior infection and potential immunity.

The HERO Registry is open to any healthcare worker to join at https://heroesresearch.org/. Enrollment takes only a few minutes; participation is free and voluntary. It is not restricted by profession. All data are kept confidential.

Tags
#HeroRegistry, #pctGR, @Collaboratory1, @PCORI, @PCORnetwork, @HeroesResearch

April 10, 2020: Hydroxychloroquine for the Early Treatment of COVID-19 in Hospitalized Adults: A Multicenter Randomized Clinical Trial (Sean Collins, MD, MSc)

Posted on by Gina Uhlenbrauck

Speaker

Sean Collins, MD, MSc
Professor and Executive Vice Chair
Department of Emergency Medicine
Director, Center for Emergency Care Research and Innovation
Vanderbilt University Medical Center

Topic

Hydroxychloroquine for the Early Treatment of COVID-19 in Hospitalized Adults: A Multicenter Randomized Clinical Trial

Keywords

Coronavirus; Virus pandemic; COVID-19; Randomized controlled trial; Acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS); Hydroxychloroquine; FDA; Emergency Use Authorization; ORCHID study

Key Points

  • Hydroxychloroquine is a biologically plausible agent for early treatment of acute respiratory distress syndrome in patients with COVID-19, but its effects remain to be evaluated in a high-quality, multicenter, blinded, placebo-controlled trial.
  • In an Emergency Use Authorization, the FDA has encouraged the conduct and participation in randomized controlled clinical trials that may produce evidence concerning the effectiveness of hydroxychloroquine in treating patients with COVID-19.
  • Trial results of the effects of this agent will be informative, whether showing benefit or harm.

Discussion Themes

The study team for this trial determined that one-to-one randomization would yield the best data quickly.

Efficacy and safety of hydroxychloroquine must be closely monitored in a health setting.

This is not the only study of chloroquine going on around the world; is there any collaboration with other studies?

Because of the urgency of the pandemic, people are collaborating on a level never seen before. We have a common goal and must maintain momentum through accelerating clinical trials with large teams of parallel studies.

Read more about this COVID-19 study at NCT04332991.

Tags
#pctGR, @Collaboratory1

April 3, 2020: Innovative Support for Patients with SARS-COV-2 Infections Registry (INSPIRE): Participant-Centered, Rapidly-Deployed, Digitally-Enabled Research (Harlan Krumholz, MD; Bala Hota, MD, MPH; Graham Nichol, MD, MPH)

Posted on by Gina Uhlenbrauck

Speakers

Harlan M. Krumholz, MD
Harold H. Hines Jr. Professor of Medicine, Yale University
Director, Yale New Haven Hospital Center for Outcomes Research and Evaluation
Co-Founder Hugo Health

Bala Hota, MD, MPH
Professor of Internal Medicine, Rush University
Chief Analytics Officer, Rush University Medical Center

Graham Nichol, MD, MPH
Medic One Foundation Endowed Chair for Pre-hospital Emergency Care
Professor of Emergency Medicine
University of Washington

Other Panelists:

Jacqueline Rollin, Administrative Fellow
Rush University Medical Center

Wade Schulz, MD, PhD
Assistant Professor of Laboratory Medicine
Director, CORE Center for Computational Health

Matthew J. Thompson, MB, ChB, DPhil
Helen D. Cohen Endowed Professorship in Family Medicine
Professor of Global Health and Medicine, University of Washington

Deb R. Chromik, Participant Experience
Hugo Health

Dave Hutton, Product Lead
Hugo Health

Topic

Innovative Support for Patients with SARS-COV-2 Infections Registry (INSPIRE): Participant-Centered, Rapidly-Deployed, Digitally-Enabled Research

Keywords

Coronavirus; Virus pandemic; INSPIRE Registry; COVID-19 directed research program; SARS-COV-2; Longitudinal data; Hugo Health digital research platform

Key Points

  • In the face of the coronavirus pandemic, there is an urgent need for rapid knowledge generation and actionable insights. Evidence needed includes:
    • The number of cases, including milder ones
    • Risk factors and timing of transmission
    • Severity and attack rate
    • Risk factors for infection and severe outcomes, including death
    • Infectiousness timing and intensity
  • Patients must be considered part of the team; involved, engaged, and respected, with agency over their data.
  • To better understand the experience of people with COVID-19, Rush University Medical Center and Hugo health are piloting the COVID INSPIRE registry. INSPIRE is a rapidly-deployed, digitally-enabled, participant-centered platform to collect longitudinal data and facilitate observational and experimental studies.

Discussion Themes

Even with social distancing, the coronavirus is in a rapid escalation phase; this rapid pace has our attention.

People are interested in participating in research now more than ever. The call to action is to build a human-connected system that treats patients compassionately and supports patients in real time.

Are there existing systems that could be built on or adapted for COVID-19? Are there potential for linkages to other systems?

Tags
#pctGR, @Collaboratory1, @HMKYale, @BalaHota, @GrahamNichol

April 6, 2020: Convening Pain Management Expertise in the Patient-Centered Outcomes Core: An Interview With Dr. Kevin Weinfurt

Posted on by Gina Uhlenbrauck

The Collaboratory recently interviewed Kevin Weinfurt, PhD, co-chair of the Patient-Centered Outcomes Core working group, to hear about the Core’s plans for supporting the PRISM Demonstration Projects. In this video, Dr. Weinfurt says one challenge for embedded trials of pain is in obtaining high-quality, complete patient-reported outcome data on pain intensity and functioning. Along with other national initiatives focused on pain research, such as the NIH-DoD-VA Pain Management Collaboratory, a chief task of the Core will be to look at efforts to harmonize pain outcomes across studies.

“The Core serves as a convener of expertise in pain management within the Collaboratory. We keep an eye on issues across the Demonstration Projects that might also be of interest to the broader pragmatic trial community.”

Read more about the work of the Patient-Centered Outcomes Core, and view other interviews about the HEAL Initiative and PRISM Demonstration Projects.

March 24, 2020: Impacts of COVID-19 on the Conduct of Clinical Trials

Posted on by Gina Uhlenbrauck

In a recent PCT Grand Rounds, Drs. Naggie, Hernandez, and Perakslis of Duke University discussed the impacts of the COVID-19 outbreak on the conduct of clinical trials. The panel described the status of COVID-19, its impact on trials currently begin conducted, some key questions to consider, and potential solutions and approaches. A brief Q&A followed the presentation.

View the video and download the slides from the webinar.

Recent news announcements are available at NIH Announces Guidance for Clinical Trials Affected by COVID-19 Emergency and NIH Shares COVID-19 Guidance and Resources for Applicants and Recipients.

March 20, 2020: Clinical Trials in the Time of COVID-19 (Susanna Naggie, MD; Adrian Hernandez, MD, MHS; Eric Perakslis, PhD)

Posted on by Gina Uhlenbrauck

Speakers

Susanna Naggie, MD
Associate Dean for Clinical Research Initiatives and Regulatory Affairs
Duke University School of Medicine

Adrian F. Hernandez, MD, MHS
Professor of Medicine
Vice Dean for Clinical Research
Duke University School of Medicine

Eric Perakslis, PhD
Rubenstein Fellow
Duke University

Topic

Clinical Trials in the Time of COVID-19

Keywords

Infectious disease; Coronavirus; Pandemic response; COVID-19; Population health; Clinical trials; Human subject protections; Contingency measures; Vaccine; Contact tracing

Key Points

Discussion Themes

Do you anticipate that statisticians will need to account for period effect in later analysis of data (pre/post COVID-19)?

Are there lessons learned from the last epidemics, for example H1N1 or Ebola? How can we deal with global pandemics in the future?

What about clinical trials in the elderly population, given that they are the most vulnerable to the coronavirus and may not be as good with technology as younger participants?

Would it be possible to set up a multisite telehealth-based outbreak learning health unit?

Recent news announcements are available at NIH Announces Guidance for Clinical Trials Affected by COVID-19 Emergency and NIH Shares COVID-19 Guidance and Resources for Applicants and Recipients.

Johns Hopkins University maintains a live website of Coronavirus COVID-19 Global Cases.

Tags
#pctGR, @Collaboratory1, @texhern, @snaggie1, @DukeForge, @eperakslis

February 28, 2020: Meeting Minutes from NIH Collaboratory’s Ethics and Regulatory Core Discussions with the PRISM NIH Collaboratory Trials

Posted on by Gina Uhlenbrauck

Meeting minutes and supplementary materials are available that summarize discussions related to the ethics and regulatory issues associated with each of the UG3 PRISM NIH Collaboratory Trials. These discussions, which took place by teleconference, included representation from study principal investigators and study teams, members of the NIH Collaboratory Ethics and Regulatory Core, NIH staff, and NIH Collaboratory Coordinating Center personnel as well as some IRBs responsible for oversight of the projects.

February 21, 2020: Nudge Study Updates (Michael Ho, MD, PhD; Sheana Bull, PhD, MPH)

Posted on by Gina Uhlenbrauck

Speakers

Michael Ho, MD, PhD
Professor of Medicine, University of Colorado School of Medicine
Staff Cardiologist, Rocky Mountain Regional VA Medical Center

Sheana Bull, PhD, MPH
Professor, Colorado School of Public Health
Director, mHealth Impact Laboratory

Topic

Nudge Study Updates

Keywords

Cardiovascular health; Behavioral nudges; Disease self-management; Pharmacy data; Text messaging; mHealth; Medication adherence; Choice architecture

Key Points

  • Up to 50% of patients do not take their cardiovascular medications as prescribed. Nonadherence is associated with increased cardiovascular events.
  • Nudges prompt small, incremental changes in behavior and can be delivered through text messaging.
  • The Nudge pragmatic study was piloted across 3 integrated healthcare systems. The intervention uses pharmacy data to monitor gaps in patients’ cardiovascular medication refills. Patients with gaps receive text messages on their mobile phone to remind them to refill their medication.

Discussion Themes

A “chatbot” is used in one of the study arms to interact with the patient through the mobile phone application. As part of the analytic plan, the study team will be evaluating engagement with the interactive chatbot and the dose response.

The Nudge study gives patients two opportunities to opt out of participating. The study team is tracking demographics of patients who opted out as well as their reasons for opting out.

How do you handle the roughly 10% of people who receive care from more than one health system? That is, patients may be receiving conflicting advice, including directions to discontinue their medications.

Learn more about the Nudge NIH Collaboratory Trial.

Tags
#pctGR, @Collaboratory1

February 21, 2020: New Video Interviews Highlight Goals of the NIH HEAL Initiative and PRISM NIH Collaboratory Trials

Posted on by Gina Uhlenbrauck

Recently, the Collaboratory Coordinating Center conducted video interviews describing the critical work being done in the NIH HEAL Initiative program to address the national opioid crisis. As part of this program, the PRISM (Pragmatic and Implementation Studies for the Management of Pain to Reduce Opioid Prescribing) NIH Collaboratory Trials present exciting new possibilities for answering important questions along with unique challenges.

Drs. Rebecca Baker and Wendy Weber discuss the aims of the HEAL Initiative, including:

  • Leveraging expertise across all NIH institutes and centers to enhance pain management and improve prevention and treatment strategies for opioid use disorder and addiction
  • Generating evidence to help clinicians and patients make the right treatment decisions

 

Drs. Meyers, Hernandez, and Weber discuss aspects of collaborating with the four PRISM NIH Collaboratory Trials, including:

  • Leveraging broad expertise in the Collaboratory program to support embedded healthcare systems research in pain management
  • Developing new understanding across different care models such as physical therapy, surgery, acupuncture therapy, and primary care settings
  • Learning about patient-reported outcomes that will be the most meaningful to establish best practices in pain management

Learn more about the PRISM NIH Collaboratory Trials on their webpages:

  • AcuOA: Pragmatic Trial of Acupuncture for Chronic Low Back Pain in Older Adults
  • FM TIPS: Fibromyalgia TENS in Physical Therapy Study
  • NOHARM: Non-pharmacological Options in Postoperative Hospital-Based and Rehabilitation Pain Management
  • OPTIMUM: Group-based mindfulness for patients with chronic low back pain in the primary care setting