Delphi Method Consensus on Statistical Analysis and Reporting Recommendations for Single-Arm Pregnancy Medication Safety Studies Investigating Pregnancy, Birth and Neonatal Health Outcomes: A Contribution from IMI-ConcePTION.

Abstract

Background and objective: Standardised procedures for performing and reporting safety monitoring studies investigating medications use in pregnancy may help improve data quality and the speed of data generation. The objective of this study was to provide recommendations on the statistical analysis and reporting of single-arm pregnancy medication safety studies using primary source datasets.

Methods: A Delphi consensus-setting protocol was used to acquire agreement on recommendations from experts with extensive knowledge and experience in conducting studies investigating medication safety in pregnancy. A series of recommendations, along with their scientific justifications and examples of how to calculate and describe exposure and outcome incidences, were critiqued and improved through a series of online Delphi review rounds. Agreement to inclusion scoring was assessed using a five-point Likert scale. Recommendations with a median Likert-scale score of at least 4, where ≥ 80% of the expert panel scored the recommendation at level 4 or higher, was used as the threshold for inclusion.

Results: The Delphi consensus methodology produced a set of 30 recommendations spread over five themes. These included descriptions of (1) study sample, (2) medication exposure, (3) maternal outcomes, (4) pregnancy and birth outcomes, and (5) fetal and neonatal outcomes. Of the 30 recommendations, 19 were strongly advised while 11 were included for consideration where their implementation may be beneficial for supplementing data communication.

Conclusion: Use of the finalised set of recommendations should be encouraged to help standardise published evidence around medication use in pregnancy.