Evidence-based decision-making in infectious diseases epidemiology, prevention and control: matching research questions to study designs and quality appraisal tools

Harder, Thomas; Takla, Anja; Rehfuess, Eva; Sánchez-Vivar, Alex; Matysiak-Klose, Dorothea; Eckmanns, Tim; Krause, Gérard; de Carvalho Gomes, Helena; Jansen, Andreas; Ellis, Simon; Forland, Frode; James, Roberta; Meerpohl, Joerg J; Morgan, Antony; Schünemann, Holger; Zuiderent-Jerak, Teun; Wichmann, Ole

doi:10.1186/1471-2288-14-69

Table 1 Tabulation of questions, respective study designs and quality appraisal tools which are relevant in the field of infectious disease epidemiology, prevention and control

From: Evidence-based decision-making in infectious diseases epidemiology, prevention and control: matching research questions to study designs and quality appraisal tools

Domain¹	No.	Question	Study design	Quality appraisal tools (Reference)²
A	1	Characteristics of the pathogen?	Laboratory study	Van der Worp [37]³
A	2	Subtypes, serotypes and local epidemiology of the pathogen?	Laboratory study	Van der Worp [37]
			Cross-sectional study	Al-Jader [33], Loney [32], Hoy [45], Cho [30], NICE [47]
A	3	Modes of transmission?	Animal study	Van der Worp [37]
			Cohort study	Downs [31], SIGN [40], Cho [30], EPHPP [38], NOS [44]
			Case series	Cho [30]
			Case-control study	Downs [31], SIGN [41], Cho [30], EPHPP [38], NOS [44]
B	4	Incidence of the disease?	Cohort study	Downs [31], SIGN [40], Cho [30], EPHPP [38], NOS [44]
B	5	Prevalence/seroprevalence of the disease?	Cross-sectional study	Al-Jader [33], Loney [32], Hoy [45], Cho [30], NICE [47]
B	6	Consequences or sequelae of the disease (hospitalization/mortality/complications/disabilities)?	Cohort study	Downs [31], SIGN [40], Cho [30], EPHPP [38], NOS [44]
			Case series	Cho [30]
			Case report	Cho [30]
B	7	Perception of the disease in the target population?	Cross-sectional study	Al-Jader [33], Loney [32], Hoy [45], Cho [30], NICE [47]
			Cohort study	Downs [31], SIGN [40], Cho [30], EPHPP [38], NOS [44]
			Focus groups	NICE [48], CASP [36]
			Interview study
C	8	Sensitivity of tests?	Diagnostic test accuracy study	SIGN [42]
C	9	Specificity of tests?	Diagnostic test accuracy study	SIGN [42]
D	10	Risk factors (for transmission/colonization/infection/disease/exacerbation/complication)?	Cohort study	Downs [31], SIGN [40], Cho [30], EPHPP [38], NOS [44]
			Case-control study	Downs [31], SIGN [41], Cho [30], EPHPP [38], NOS [44]
			Ecological study	NICE [47]
			Cross-sectional study	Al-Jader [33], Loney [32], Hoy [45], Cho [30], NICE [47]
			Animal study	Van der Worp [37]
E	11	Effects of intervention (in terms of efficacy/effectiveness/surrogate markers/adverse events/harms)?	Controlled before-and-after study	Downs [31], NICE [46], EPHPP [38]
			RCT	Cochrane [35], Downs [31], SIGN [39], NICE [46], EPHPP [38]
			NRCT	Downs [31], NICE [46], EPHPP [38]
			Cluster-randomized trial	Downs [31], NICE [46], EPHPP [38]
			Cohort study	Downs [31], SIGN [40], Cho [30], EPHPP [38], NOS [44]
			Case-control study	Downs [31], SIGN [41], Cho [30], EPHPP [38], NOS [44]
			Uncontrolled before-and-after study	Downs [31], NICE [46], EPHPP [38]
			Ecological study	NICE [47]
			Interrupted time series	EPOC [50], EPHPP [38]
			Self-controlled case series	Cho [30], NOS [44], SIGN [41]
F	12	Feasible to implement?	Cross-sectional study	Al-Jader [33], Loney [32], Hoy [45], Cho [30], NICE [47]
			Cohort study	Downs [31], SIGN [40], Cho [30], EPHPP [38], NOS [44]
			Focus groups	NICE [48], CASP [36]
			Interview study
F	13	Cost-effectiveness of the intervention?	Cost-effectiveness (-benefit, -consequence) analysis	SIGN [43], NICE [49], QHES [34]
			Cost-utility analysis	QHES [34]
F	14	Acceptable to stakeholders?	Focus groups	NICE [48], CASP [36]
			Interview study
			Cross-sectional study	Al-Jader [33], Loney [32], Hoy [45], Cho [30], NICE [47]
F	15	Equitable?	Cross-sectional study	Al-Jader [33], Loney [32], Hoy [45], Cho [30], NICE [47]
			Cohort study	Downs [31], SIGN [40], Cho [30], EPHPP [38], NOS [44]
F	16	Enablers/barriers to success?	Cross-sectional study	Al-Jader [33], Loney [32], Hoy [45], Cho [30], NICE [47]
			Interview study (observation)	NICE [48], CASP [36]
			Document analysis
			Focus groups
			Process evaluation
F	17	Coverage rates for positive population level effects?	Cohort study	Downs [31], SIGN [40], Cho [30], EPHPP [38], NOS [44]
			Non-economic modeling study	SIGN [43], NICE [49]
F	18	Communication of advice?	RCT	Cochrane [35], Downs [31], SIGN [39], NICE [46], EPHPP [38]
			NRCT	Downs [31], NICE [46], EPHPP [38]
			Cohort study	Downs [31], SIGN [40], Cho [30], EPHPP [38], NOS [44]
			Cross-sectional study	Al-Jader [33], Loney [32], Hoy [45], Cho [30], NICE [47]
			Focus groups	NICE [48], CASP [36]
			Interview study
F	19	Weighing and valuing of population preferences?	Cross-sectional study	Al-Jader [33], Loney [32], Hoy [5], Cho [30], NICE [47]
			Focus groups	NICE [48], CASP [36]
			Interview study
F	20	Effectiveness of alternative measures?	Controlled before-after study	Downs [31], NICE [46], EPHPP [38]
			RCT	Cochrane [35], Downs [31], SIGN [39], NICE [46], EPHPP [38]
			NRCT	Downs [31], NICE [46], EPHPP [38]
			Cluster-randomized trial	Downs [31], NICE [46], EPHPP [38]
			Cohort study	Downs [31], SIGN [40], Cho [30], EPHPP [38], NOS [44]
			Case-control study	Downs [31], SIGN [41], Cho [30], EPHPP [38], NOS [44]
			Uncontrolled before-after study	Downs [31], NICE [46], EPHPP [38]
			Ecological study	NICE [47]
			Interrupted time series	EPOC [50], EPHPP [38]
			Self-controlled case series	Cho [30], NOS [44], SIGN [41]

¹Domains A-F refer to the following domains of questions described under Results: A – Characteristics of the pathogen; B – Burden of disease; C – Diagnosis; D – Risk factors; E – Intervention; F – Implementation of intervention.
²See footnote 2 of Table 2 for complete names of the included QATs.
³For alternative QATs for animal studies, see the review by Krauth et al. [51] published after completion of our literature search.

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ISSN: 1471-2288

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