Table 2 Number of included phase III, core outcome and public health trials, together with the total number of data points included in our calculations for both primary and secondary outcomes, the interquartile ranges including upper and lower limits, median total trial data collection time (i.e. total Time to collect; in hours) for each trial type and the median primary to secondary Time to collect ratio for each trial type. Note: two trials did not contribute to the ratio calculations (one phase III, one core outcome set) because the primary outcome Time to collect was 0 for both (i.e. including these led to a division by zero error)
Included trials with full Time to collect data | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Number of trials | Number of primary outcomes data points | Median total trial time to collect for primary outcomes (minutes) [min–max] | Primary outcome IQR (minutes) [lower limit–upper limit] | Number of secondary outcomes data points | Median total trial time to collect for secondary outcomes (minutes) [min–max] | Secondary outcome IQR (minutes) [lower limit–upper limit] | Median primary to secondary total Time to collect ratio | |
All trials | 134 | 134 | 56.13 [0.0–10,746.67] | 226.89 [− 318.16–589.39] | 134 | 190.67 [0.0–1,356,832.87] | 617.63 [− 876.44–1594.06] | 1: 3.0 |
Phase III | 100 | 100 | 53.75 [0.0–10,746.67] | 128.07 [− 170.31–341.96] | 134 | 166.40 [0.0 –1,356,832.87] | 473.34 [− 660.85–1232.52] | 1: 3.1 |
Core outcome set | 17 | 17 | 41.67 [0.0–2004.75] | 173.25 [− 248.18–444.83] | 17 | 157.92 [1.50–1260.00] | 316.88 [− 437.28–830.26] | 1: 3.4 |
Public health | 17 | 17 | 353.86 [6.83–6052.80] | 748.60 [− 1072.75–1921.65] | 17 | 504.17 [9.10–7528.50] | 1636.80 [− 2322.07– 4225.13] | 1: 2.2 |