Table 4 Core area “life impact” and “resource use” (taxonomy based on Dodd et al. [18])
Core area | Outcome domain | Further definition of outcome (if applicable) | No. of studies, n (%) | No. of studies reporting as the primary outcome | Variation in reported outcome |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Life impact | Delivery of care | Outcomes related to the feasibility of study/intervention | 3/3 | - Feasibility of the study reported as the number of participants recruited/enrolled, consenting, receiving study drug, and completing the study. - Time points: within 4 to 12 months, or not specified | |
Global quality of life | Quality of life | 0/6 | - Reported as median with IQR or mean ± SD scores on various quality of life questionnaires, such as Short-Form (SF-12, SF-36), Single Question Outcome Measure (SQOM), European Quality of Life (EQ-5D-3L, EQ-5D-5L) - Time points: from baseline to 2 weeks, 30 days, 3 months, 6 months after intervention or surgery or not specified | ||
Physical functioning | See variation in reported outcome | 0/2 | - Reported as median with IQR or mean ± SD days and scores on various physical functioning scales, such as Days-alive-and-out-of-hospital (DAH/DAOH; 6-minute walk test (6MWT); cardiopulmonary exercise testing (CPET) Multidimensional Fatigue Inventory-20 (MFI-20) - Time points: from baseline to 2 weeks, 30 days, 3 months, 6 months after intervention or surgery or not specified | ||
Resource use | Need for further intervention | Need for blood transfusion | 3/10 | - Reported as number or percentage of patients receiving blood transfusion; number of blood units transfused or amount of transfused blood in total or per patient in mean ± SD or median with IQR; reduction in risk or odds ratio for (with 95% CI) blood transfusion; categories of units transfused used: 1–2 and 3–4 - Time points: preoperatively without further specification or at up to 30 days before surgery; during surgery; postoperatively at 5 days, 7 days, 30 days until discharge or not further specified; other time points: during hospital stay; from overall from recruitment to discharge or not specified | |
Iron treatment | 1 (8) [21] | 0/1 | - Reported as number of patients requiring continued iron treatment at the time of discharge from hospital | ||
Hospital | Use of hospital resources | 0/8 | - Reported as mean ± SD or median with IQR or with minimum and maximum of length of hospital stay and length of ICU stay; number of patients who need readmission to hospital or ICU admission - Time points: until discharge, within 30 days or not specified | ||
Economic | Cost savings per patient | 1 (8) [32] | 0/1 | - Reported as the total difference of costs per patient between groups calculated from costs for transfusion, iron supplementation, and hospitalization - Time points: from admission to end of hospital stay |