Post-trial follow-up methodology in large randomised controlled trials: a systematic review

Table 2 Post-trial follow-up (PTFU) in eligible surgical trials. Note, retention of participants is expressed as % lost to follow-up

1st author, year	Primary outcome for PTFU	RCT name (PTFU name)	No. years PTFU ^a	Intervention	No. participants randomised in trial	No. participants at the start of PTFU	% participants lost in PTFU	Method of PTFU for primary outcome
1st author, year	Primary outcome for PTFU	RCT name (PTFU name)	No. years PTFU ^a	Intervention	No. participants randomised in trial	No. participants at the start of PTFU	% participants lost in PTFU	Post/Q	Clinic	Telephone	Data linkage	Paper records
Carson, 2015	Mortality	FOCUS	3	Blood transfusion	2016	2002	–				Y
Cho 2017	Mortality, MI, stroke, revascularisation	RISPO	4	RIPC, RIPostC	1328	1280	15			Y	Y	Y
Gada, 2013	Safety, efficacy, mortality	SPIRIT III	5	EES, PES	1002	–	–		Y
Gallagher, 2014	Mortality	RENAL (POST-RENAL)	4	Renal replacement therapy	1508	1464	–				Y
Halliday, 2010	Mortality, stroke	ACST-1	4	CEA or deferement	3120	3120	–				Y
Henderson, 2015	Mortality	RITA-3	5	PCI	1810	1810	0				Y
Hirsch, 2007	Mortality, MACE	ICTUS	4	PCI	1200	1124	3			Y	Y	Y
Hochman, 2011	Mortality, MACE	OAT	3	PCI	2201	1504	–			Y	Y	Y
Investigators, 2007	Mortality	BARI	5	PTCA	1829	1829	4			Y	Y	Y
Milojevic, 2016	Mortality	SYNTAX	5	PCI	1800	847	–		Y	Y		Y
Naunheim, 2006	Mortality	NETT	2	Lung-volume surgery	1218	70%	–	Y			Y
Patel, 2016	Mortality	EVAR-1	13	EVAR	1252	1252	2		Y		Y	Y
Powell, 2007	Mortality	UKSAT	12	Early AAA repair	1090	1090	0				Y
Sedlis, 2015	Mortality	COURAGE	6	PCI	2287	1211	–				Y
Wallentein, 2016	Mortality, MI (composite)	FRISC-II	15	PCI	2457	2421	1				Y	Y

where ^a is number of years (median/mean/max) published in the cited paper, years followed up to the nearest whole number, PCI percutaneous coronary intervention ± revascularisation, PTCA percutaneous transluminal coronary balloon angioplasty, EES everolimus-eluting stents, PES paclitaxel-eluting stents, EVAR endovascular aneurysm repair, CEA carotid endarterectomy, AAA abdominal aortic aneurysm, RIPC remote ischaemic preconditioning, RIPostC RIPC with postconditioning, MI myocardial infarction, MACE major adverse cardiovascular events ± revascularisation, Postal/Q postal communication or questionnaire, years followed up to the nearest whole number, % participants lost to the nearest whole number, 70% provided by trialist. Where 0 participants have been lost to follow-up this has been confirmed either in the cited paper or directly with the corresponding trialist

ISSN: 1745-6215