The study protocol, publications, full study report detailing all analyses, and participant-level dataset constitute the main documentation of methods and results for health research. However, journal publications are available for only half of all studies and are plagued by selective reporting of methods and results. The protocol, full study report, and participant-level dataset are rarely available. The quality of information provided in study protocols and reports is variable and often incomplete. Inaccessibility of full information for the vast majority of studies wastes billions of dollars, introduces bias, and has a detrimental impact on patient care and research. To help improve this situation at a systemic level, three main actions are warranted. Firstly, it is important that academic institutions and funders reward investigators who fully disseminate their research protocols, reports, and participant-level datasets. Secondly, standards for the content of protocols, full study reports, and data sharing practices should be rigorously developed and adopted for all types of health research. Finally, journals, funders, sponsors, research ethics committees, regulators, and legislators should implement and enforce policies supporting study registration and availability of journal publications, full study reports, and participant-level datasets.
Background: Prostate-specific antigen (PSA) and PSA-velocity (PSAV) have been used to identify men at risk of prostate cancer (PrCa). The IMPACT study is evaluating PSA screening in men with a known genetic predisposition to PrCa due to BRCA1/2 mutations. This analysis evaluates the utility of PSA and PSAV for identifying PrCa and high-grade disease in this cohort. Methods: PSAV was calculated using logistic regression to determine if PSA or PSAV predicted the result of prostate biopsy (PB) in men with elevated PSA values. Cox regression was used to determine whether PSA or PSAV predicted PSA elevation in men with low PSAs. Interaction terms were included in the models to determine whether BRCA status influenced the predictiveness of PSA or PSAV. Results: 1634 participants had 3 PSA readings of whom 174 underwent PB and 45 PrCas diagnosed. In men with PSA >3.0 ng ml−l, PSAV was not significantly associated with presence of cancer or high-grade disease. PSAV did not add to PSA for predicting time to an elevated PSA. When comparing BRCA1/2 carriers to non-carriers, we found a significant interaction between BRCA status and last PSA before biopsy (P=0.031) and BRCA2 status and PSAV (P=0.024). However, PSAV was not predictive of biopsy outcome in BRCA2 carriers. Conclusions: PSA is more strongly predictive of PrCa in BRCA carriers than non-carriers. We did not find evidence that PSAV aids decision-making for BRCA carriers over absolute PSA value alone. ; This research is coordinated by the Institute of Cancer Research, London, UK and is supported by grants from Cancer Research UK (Grant references (C5047/A21332, C5047/A13232 and C5047/A17528) and The Ronald and Rita McAulay Foundation. Mr and Mrs Jack Baker for the study in NorthShore University HealthSystem, Evanston, Illinois and Myriad Genetics Laboratory, Salt Lake City, Utah, for providing research BRCA testing rates for NorthShore University HealthSystem participants. We acknowledge funding from the NIHR to the Biomedical Research Center at The Institute of Cancer Research and The Royal Marsden NHS Foundation Trust, at Central Manchester Foundation Trust and the Oxford Biomedical Research Centre Program. We acknowledge that in Australia, this project was co-funded by Cancer Council Tasmania and Cancer Australia, grant number 1006349 (2011–2013), Prostate Cancer Foundation of Australia, grant number PCFA PRO4 (2008) and Cancer Councils of Victoria and South Australia, grant number 400048 (2006–2008), The Victorian Cancer Agency Clinical Trial Capacity CTCB08_14, Cancer Australia & Prostate Cancer Foundation of Australia (2014–2016) grant number 1059423, and Translational grants EOI09_50. The Association of International Cancer Research funded data collection in The Netherlands (AICR 10–0596). We acknowledge funding from the Basser Center for BRCA (to S Domchek). We acknowledge funding from the National Cancer Institute [P30-CA008748], the Sidney Kimmel Center for Prostate and Urologic Cancers, and David H. Koch through the Prostate Cancer Foundation, the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) Oxford Biomedical Research Centre Program in UK, Swedish Cancer Society (Cancerfonden project no. 11–0624), and the Swedish Research Council (VR-MH project no. 2016–02974). We acknowledge funding from the Slovenian Research Agency, Research programme P3–0352. Elena Castro acknolwedges funding from a Juan de la Cierva' fellowship from MINIECO (grant reference IJCI- 2014–19129). We acknowledge the support of the Asociación Española Contra el Cáncer (AECC), the Instituto de Salud Carlos III (organismo adscrito al Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad) and 'Fondo Europeo de Desarrollo Regional (FEDER), una manera de hacer Europa' (PI10/01422, PI13/00285, PIE13/00022, PI16/00563 and CIBERONC) and the Institut Català de la Salut and Autonomous Government of Catalonia (2009SGR290, 2014SGR338 and PERIS Project MedPerCan). ; Peer Reviewed