RT Journal Article
SR Electronic
T1 Priorities for research in miscarriage: a priority setting partnership between people affected by miscarriage and professionals following the James Lind Alliance methodology
JF BMJ Open
JO BMJ Open
FD British Medical Journal Publishing Group
SP e016571
DO 10.1136/bmjopen-2017-016571
VO 7
IS 8
A1 Matthew Prior
A1 Carmel Bagness
A1 Jane Brewin
A1 Arri Coomarasamy
A1 Lucy Easthope
A1 Barbara Hepworth-Jones
A1 Kim Hinshaw
A1 Emily O'Toole
A1 Julie Orford
A1 Lesley Regan
A1 Nick Raine-Fenning
A1 Judy Shakespeare
A1 Rachel Small
A1 Jim Thornton
A1 Leanne Metcalf
YR 2017
UL http://bmjopen.bmj.com/content/7/8/e016571.abstract
AB Objectives To identify and prioritise important research questions for miscarriage.Design A priority setting partnership using prospective surveys and consensus meetings following methods advocated by the James Lind Alliance.Setting UK.Participants Women and those affected by miscarriage working alongside healthcare professionals.Results In the initial survey, 1093 participants (932 women who have experienced miscarriage, 8 partners, 17 family members, friends or colleagues, 104 healthcare professionals and eight charitable organisations) submitted 3279 questions. A review of existing literature identified a further 64. Non-questions were removed, and the remaining questions were categorised and summarised into 58 questions. In an interim electronic survey, 2122 respondents chose their top 10 priorities from the 58 summary questions. The 25 highest ranked in the survey were prioritised at a final face-to-face workshop. In summary, the top 10 priorities were ranked as follows: research into preventative treatment, emotional aspects in general, investigation, relevance of pre-existing medical conditions, emotional support as a treatment, importance of lifestyle factors, importance of genetic and chromosomal causes, preconception tests, investigation after different numbers of miscarriage and male causal factors.Conclusions These results should be the focus of future miscarriage research. Presently, studies are being conducted to address the top priority; however, many other priorities, especially psychological and emotional support, are less well researched areas. We hope our results will encourage both researchers and funders to focus on these priorities.