Patient-centered outcomes for gastrointestinal cancer care: a scoping review protocol

Introduction
Following a cancer diagnosis, patients and their caregivers face crucial decisions regarding goals of care and treatment, which have consequences that can persist throughout their cancer journey. To foster informed and value-driven treatment choices, evidence-based information on outcomes relevant to patients is needed. Traditionally, clinical studies have largely focused on a few concrete and easily measurable outcomes such as survival, disease progression and immediate treatment toxicities. These outcomes do not capture other important factors that patients consider when making treatment decisions. Patient-centred outcomes (PCOs) reflect the patients’ individual values, preferences, needs and circumstances that are essential to directing meaningful and informed healthcare discussions. Often, however, these outcomes are not included in research protocols in a standardised and practical fashion. This scoping review will summarise the existing literature on PCOs in gastrointestinal (GI) cancer care as well as the tools used to assess these outcomes. A comprehensive list of these PCOs will be generated for future efforts to develop a core outcome set.

Methods and analysis
This scoping review will follow Arksey and O’Malley’s expanded framework for scoping reviews. We will systematically search Medline, Embase, CINAHL, Cochrane Library and APA PsycINFO databases for studies examining PCOs in the context of GI cancer. We will include studies published in or after the year 2000 up to the date of the final searches, with no language restrictions. Studies involving adult patients with GI cancers and discussion of any PCOs will be included. Opinion pieces, protocols, case reports and abstracts will be excluded. Two authors will independently perform two rounds of screening to select studies for inclusion. The data from full texts will be extracted, charted and summarised both quantitatively and qualitatively.

Ethics and dissemination
No ethics approval is required for this scoping review. Results will be disseminated through scientific publication and presentation at relevant conferences.

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Giugno 2022

Aetiological research on the health of migrants living in Germany: a systematic literature review

Background
Germany has become an important immigration country and health services need to adopt to meet the needs of an increasingly multicultural population. For public health planning, it is essential to understand the aetiology of health problems among migrant populations. The main objective was to systematically identify, evaluate and synthesise population-based studies that investigated exposure–outcome relationships among migrant groups in Germany.

Methods
In November 2019, we searched PubMed and LIVIVO, and updated this search in November 2020, to identify peer-reviewed publications that fulfilled our eligibility criteria: English or German language; study on disease aetiology among major migrant groups in Germany, according to the latest microcensus; publication date from inception to 01 November 2020 and observational or experimental study designs. For quality appraisal, we used the Critical Appraisal Skills Programme checklists. Outcomes under investigation were categorised according to the WHO major disease groups, and their associations with risk factors were synthesised as a heat map.

Results
Out of 2407 articles retrieved, we included 68 publications with a total number of 864 518 participants. These publications reported on cross-sectional data (n=56), cohort studies (n=11) and one intervention study. The population groups most frequently studied were from the Middle East (n=28), Turkey (n=24), sub-Saharan Africa (n=24), Eastern Europe (n=15) and the former Soviet Union (n=11). The outcomes under study were population group specific. There were consistent associations of demographic and socioeconomic factors with ill health among migrants in Germany.

Discussion
In this systematic review, we observed low risk of bias in two-thirds of the studies. There is an increasing body of evidence for aetiological research on migrants’ health in Germany. Still, the directions of associations between a wide range of risk factors and major disease groups seem only partially understood.

PROSPERO registration number
CRD42018085074.

Leggi
Giugno 2022

Severity and mortality of COVID-19 among people with disabilities: protocol for a systematic review and meta-analysis

Introduction
As the COVID-19 pandemic and the subsequent global healthcare crisis continue, people with disabilities may face greater health risks than their non-disabled peers. This systematic review and meta-analysis aims to determine the severity and mortality of COVID-19 among people with different types of disabilities.

Methods and analysis
We will search PubMed, HINARI, ScienceDirect, PEDro and Cochrane Library databases. Grey literature search will also be conducted on MedRxiv and Google Scholar. Searches will be without date restrictions. Cohort, case-control and cross-sectional studies assessing the severity and mortality of COVID-19 among people with disabilities will be included. Only full-text studies in the English language will be included. The outcomes of interest include the risk of COVID-19 infection, rate of hospitalisation, severity, hospital stay, mortality and others variables where data are available. Two reviewers will extract data and perform risk of bias assessment independently. The Newcastle-Ottawa Scale will be used to assess risk of bias. Review Manager V.5.4 and Stata V.16.0 software will be used for statistical analysis. Heterogeneity will be analysed using I² statistics. Pooled OR with 95% CI will be used to calculate the pooled results for outcome variables.

Ethics and dissemination
Ethical approval and informed consent are not required as this is a systematic review of existing publications. The final results will be published in a peer reviewed journal and presented at national and international conferences.

PROSPERO registration number
CRD42022306361.

Leggi
Giugno 2022

Acupuncture for patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus with dry eye: protocol for a systematic review and meta-analysis

Introduction
The global incidence of patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) with dry eye is increasing annually, which imposes additional healthcare costs and financial burden on families and societies. In clinical practice, artificial tears are often used for symptomatic treatment, but these can only relieve the symptoms of discomfort. Acupuncture is a widely used alternative therapy. Indeed, randomised trials have found that acupuncture confers a definite therapeutic effect on patients with T2DM with dry eye. However, systematic reviews on the effectiveness and safety of acupuncture are lacking, therefore this systematic review aims to evaluate the effectiveness and safety of acupuncture for T2DM with dry eye.

Methods and analysis
Four English databases (PubMed, Cochrane Library, Embase and Ovid), three Chinese databases (China National Knowledge Infrastructure, Wanfang, Chonqing VIP Information), three Japanese databases (Japan Science, Technology Agency and Japan Medical Abstracts Society) and three Korean databases (Korean Medical database, Oriental Medicine Advanced Searching Integrated System and Research Information Service System) will be searched for reports published between 1 January 2007 and 1 October 2021. Only randomised controlled trials will be included, and language or publication dates will not be restricted. Two researchers will independently extract, manage and analyse data. The primary outcomes will include Schirmer’s I test, breakup time, corneal fluorescein staining and ocular surface disease index scores. Secondary results will include visual analogue scale scores for ocular symptoms and any adverse events related to acupuncture. We will use Review Manager V.5.4 for the meta-analysis. The risk of bias will be independently assessed using Cochrane’s ‘risk of bias’ tool.

Ethics and dissemination
Ethical approval will not be required since raw data will not be collected or generated. Our findings will be disseminated through peer-reviewed journal.

PROSPERO registration number
CRD42021271891.

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Giugno 2022

Value of robotic surgery simulation for training surgical residents and attendings: a systematic review protocol

Introduction
Robotic surgery is a method of minimally invasive surgery performed through small incisions using a remote robotic console. Surgical residents and attendings participate in simulation training to be able to effectively perform robotic surgery using wet labs, dry labs and virtual reality platforms. Our objective is to identify the effectiveness of robotic simulation on novice robotic surgeons. This review will answer our review question: To what extent are robotic simulations for training novice robotic general surgery residents and attendings associated with improved outcomes in comparison with no simulation training?

Methods and analysis
A comprehensive search of PubMed, Embase, the Cochrane Library and Web of Science was performed. The studies were then determined to meet initial screening criteria by one individual for abstract and title with full text screening performed by two authors independently and in duplicate. Narrative themes will be collected, analysed and summarised where possible.

Ethics and dissemination
There is no Institutional Review Board approval required given that the work is carried out on previously published papers. The final manuscript and results will be presented and published at an academic conference and peer -reviewed journal.

PROSPERO registration number
CRD42021274090.

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Giugno 2022

Systematic review of changed smoking behaviour, smoking cessation and psychological states of smokers according to cigarette type during the COVID-19 pandemic

Objectives
Although the global COVID-19 pandemic has increased interest in research involving high-risk smokers, studies examining changed smoking behaviours, cessation intentions and associated psychological states among smokers are still scarce. This study aimed to systematically review the literature related to this subject.

Design
A systematic review of published articles on cigarettes and COVID-19-related topics

Data sources
Our search was conducted in January 2021. We used the keywords COVID-19, cigarettes, electronic cigarettes (e-cigarettes) and psychological factors in PubMed and ScienceDirect and found papers published between January and December 2020.

Data selection
We included articles in full text, written in English, and that surveyed adults. The topics included smoking behaviour, smoking cessation, psychological state of smokers and COVID-19-related topics.

Data extraction and synthesis
Papers of low quality, based on quality assessment, were excluded. Thirteen papers were related to smoking behaviour, nine papers were related to smoking cessation and four papers were related to psychological states of smokers.

Results
Owing to the COVID-19 lockdown, cigarette users were habituated to purchasing large quantities of cigarettes in advance. Additionally, cigarette-only users increased their attempts and willingness to quit smoking, compared with e-cigarette-only users.

Conclusions
Owing to the COVID-19 outbreak, the intention to quit smoking was different among smokers, according to cigarette type (cigarette-only users, e-cigarette-only users and dual users). With the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, policies and campaigns to increase smoking cessation intentions and attempts to quit smoking among smokers at high risk of COVID-19 should be implemented. Additionally, e-cigarette-only users with poor health-seeking behaviour require interventions to increase the intention to quit smoking.

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Giugno 2022

Examining endothelial function and carotid artery disease in patients with inflammatory bowel disease: a systematic review protocol

Introduction
Patients with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) might be at an increased risk for the development of cardiovascular disease (CVD). The present protocol is developed to review and analyse published data to determine if patients with IBD have an increased CVD burden.

Methods and analysis
We will conduct a systematic review of all observational studies that examine endothelial function, arterial stiffness and carotid intima-media thickness in patients with IBD. Study selection will follow the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses guidelines, and study quality will be assessed using the Newcastle-Ottawa Scale. If sufficient data are available, a meta-analysis will be conducted. The overall effect sizes will be estimated using both fixed effects models and random effects models. Statistical heterogeneity will be calculated using Higgin’s (I2) tests. Subgroup analyses, conditional number of studies retrieved and their sample size, will be stratified according to participant disease category or gender or disease activity.

Ethics and dissemination
Formal ethics approval is not required as individual data will not be collected. The results will be disseminated through peer-reviewed publications, conference presentations and scientific news releases.

PROSPERO registration number
CRD42021274093.

Leggi
Giugno 2022

Diagnostic delay of myositis: protocol for an integrated systematic review

Introduction
Idiopathic inflammatory myopathies (IIM). described as ‘inflammatory myositis’, are a heterogeneous group of rare muscular autoimmune diseases characterised by skeletal muscle inflammation. Its complex characteristics with lack of accurate diagnostic tests, unified classification system and comprehensive widely used diagnostic criteria could lead to diagnostic delay. This study will review diagnostic delay in myositis and provide an overview and clearer insight of patients’ experiences, causes and consequences of diagnostic delay in myositis.

Methods and analysis
The literature source will be a systematic search of PubMed/MEDLINE, Scopus, ProQuest and sources of grey literature, conducted from database inception to December 2021 without restrictions on publication date. All study types (qualitative and quantitative) except review articles, examining diagnostic delay, incorrect diagnosis, missed diagnosis or slow diagnosis of all types of myositis in all ages will be included. Evidence of patients’ experiences associated with diagnostic delay will also be examined. Studies in languages other than English, German and Indonesian will be excluded. Outcomes will be diagnostic delay time, patients’ experiences, and causes and consequences associated with diagnostic delay in myositis. Two review authors will independently screen the titles and abstracts of search results against the inclusion criteria. The Mixed Methods Appraisal Tool (MMAT) will be used to appraise selected studies. Two independent authors will extract data using a prepiloted data extraction tool. If sufficient quantitative data is available, a meta-analysis will be conducted along with subgroup analysis including pooled diagnostic delay in each type of myositis. Qualitative data will be analysed in line with meta-aggregation methods. If data is insufficient, a narrative synthesis will be conducted.

Ethics and dissemination
As this work is a systematic review, ethical approval was not required. Findings of the study will be disseminated through publications in peer-reviewed journals, conferences and symposia.

PROSPERO registration number
CRD42022289830.

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Giugno 2022

Investigating the reciprocal temporal relationships between tobacco consumption and psychological disorders for youth: an international review

Objective
To investigate reciprocal temporal relationships between tobacco consumption and psychological disorders for youth.
Design: Review

Data sources
Five databases (PubMed, Embase, Scopus, CINAHL and PsycINFO) on 26 September 2019 and updated on 11 May 2021, indexing tobacco, mental illness and longitudinal.
Study selection: Methods used consensus and multiple reviewers.

Interventions
Cohort studies (n=49) examining tobacco and selected psychological disorders (depression, anxiety, bipolar, psychosis, borderline personality disorder) among youth, and systematic reviews (n=4) of these relationships met inclusion criteria.

Primary and secondary outcome measures
Effect of tobacco on psychological disorders and effect of psychological disorders on tobacco.

Data extraction and synthesis
Independent extraction by the first author and checked by final author. Joanna Briggs Institute Critical Appraisal Tools were used for all studies.
Included studies had moderate-to-high appraisal scores. We synthesised findings using vote counting for effect direction and descriptive data.

Results
Fifty-three studies were included in the review. Thirteen of 15 studies showed a positive effect direction of tobacco on depression (p

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Giugno 2022

Creation of a nationwide breastfeeding policy for surgical residents: a scoping review protocol

Introduction
Breast feeding is recommended for the first year of a baby’s life due to numerous benefits for both the child and mother. After returning from maternity leave, surgical trainees face extensive barriers to breast feeding and tend to terminate breast feeding earlier than guideline recommendations. The aim of this scoping review is to assess existing breastfeeding policies for surgical trainees at the national level including postgraduate medical education offices, provincial resident unions and individual surgical programmes.

Methods and analysis
A modified Arksey and O’Malley (2005) framework will be used. Specifically, (1) identifying the research question/s and (2) relevant studies from electronic databases and grey literature, (3) identifying and (4) selecting studies with independent verification, and (5) collating, summarising, and reporting data while having ongoing consultation between experts throughout the process. Experts will include a lactation consultant (AGB), a human resource leader (JI), a health information specialist (ES), two independent coders (NZ, LR) and a board-certified surgeon (JD). This work will take place as of December 2020 and be carried out to completion in 2021.

Ethics and dissemination
Ethics approval will not be sought for this scoping review. Research findings will be disseminated through publications, presentations and meetings with relevant stakeholders.

Leggi
Giugno 2022

Stakeholder involvement in care transition planning for older adults and the factors guiding their decision-making: a scoping review

Objective
To synthesise the existing literature on care transition planning from the perspectives of older adults, caregivers and health professionals and to identify the factors that may influence these stakeholders’ transition decision-making processes.

Design
A scoping review guided by Arksey and O’Malley’s six-step framework. A comprehensive search strategy was conducted on 7 January 2021 to identify articles in five databases (MEDLINE, Embase, CINAHL Plus, PsycINFO and AgeLine). Records were included when they described care transition planning in an institutional setting from the perspectives of the care triad (older adults, caregivers and health professionals). No date or study design restrictions were imposed.

Setting
This review explored care transitions involving older adults from an institutional care setting to any other institutional or non-institutional care setting. Institutional care settings include communal facilities where individuals dwell for short or extended periods of time and have access to healthcare services.

Participants
Older adults (aged 65 or older), caregivers and health professionals.

Results
39 records were included. Stakeholder involvement in transition planning varied across the studies. Transition decisions were largely made by health professionals, with limited or unclear involvement from older adults and caregivers. Seven factors appeared to guide transition planning across the stakeholder groups: (a) institutional priorities and requirements; (b) resources; (c) knowledge; (d) risk; (e) group structure and dynamic; (f) health and support needs; and (g) personality preferences and beliefs. Factors were described at microlevels, mesolevels and macrolevels.

Conclusions
This review explored stakeholder involvement in transition planning and identified seven factors that appear to influence transition decision-making. These factors may be useful in advancing the delivery of person and family-centred care by determining how individual-level, group-level and system-level values guide decision-making. Further research is needed to understand how various stakeholder groups balance these factors during transition planning in different health contexts.

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Giugno 2022

Clinico-epidemiology and aetiopathogenesis of gallstone disease in the South Asian region: a scoping review protocol

Introduction
Pathogenesis of gallstones (GS) is multifactorial and is influenced by numerous environmental and genetic risk factors. As a result, clinico-epidemiology and aetiopathogenesis of GS vary in different populations. Understanding the aetiopathogenesis of GS for different populations is imperative in control and prevention of GS disease and its associated complications. This protocol describes the methodology of a scoping review which focuses on synthesising the most updated knowledge on GS disease in South Asia.

Methods and analysis
The scoping review proposed in this protocol will be guided by Arksey and O’Malley’s framework and the Joanna Briggs Institute Reviewers’ Manual. Accordingly, population, concept and context strategy will be used to formulate the scoping review question, eligibility criteria and search strategy. In the search, electronic databases, MEDLINE/PubMed, ScienceDirect, Scopus, Cochrane library, CINAHL, Trip, and Google scholar, as well as various grey literature sources will be used in synthesising and presenting the findings on clinico-epidemiology and aetiopathogenesis of GS disease in South Asia.

Ethics and dissemination
As secondary data will be used in the study, ethical approval will not be required. The scoping review proposed by this protocol will accurately summarise the current knowledge on GS disease in South Asia based on published and unpublished literature on the field. Thus, the evidence presented in the review will be important for healthcare providers to make decisions on the control and prevention of GS disease and as well as to identify future research priorities on GS disease in South Asia.

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Giugno 2022

Concepts and metrics of clinician attention: a scoping review protocol

Introduction
There is growing emphasis on the importance of both the cognitive and behavioural phenomenon of attention for clinicians engaged in patient care. Aspects of attention such as cognitive load, distraction and task switching have been studied in various settings with different methodologies. Using the protocol described here, we aim to systematically review the medical literature in order to map the concept of attention and to synthesise diverse concepts and methods under the broader category of research focused on ‘attention’.

Methods and analysis
Following the methodology described by the Joanna Briggs Institute and Arksey and O’Malley, our scoping review conducts an iterative search of Cumulative Index of Nursing and Allied Health Literature (CINAHL), Medline (PubMed) and EMBASE (Ovid). An initial limited search based on key concepts and terminology will generate relevant articles which in turn will be mined for additional keywords and index terms to guide a formal literature search. Our multidisciplinary team will extract data into a matrix, including a small random sample of the same studies (to ensure concordance), and present the results in a descriptive narrative format.

Ethics and dissemination
As a secondary analysis, our study does not require ethics approval, and we will ensure that included studies have appropriate approval. We anticipate results will identify diverse ways of conceptualising clinician attention and will provide a foundation for developing additional metrics and study methods to optimise attention in the clinical environment. We will disseminate results through journals and conferences and coordinate with colleagues doing work in adjacent fields.

Leggi
Giugno 2022

Community-based culturally tailored education programmes for black adults with cardiovascular disease, diabetes, hypertension and stroke: a systematic review protocol of primary empirical studies

Introduction
Chronic conditions and stroke disproportionately affect black adults in communities all around the world partly due to patterns of systemic racism, disparities in care, and lack of resources. Culturally tailored programmes can potentially meet the needs of the communities they serve, including black adults who may experience reduced access to postacute services. To address unequal care received by black communities, a shift to community-based programmes that deliver culturally tailored programmes may give an alternative to a healthcare model which reinforces health inequities. The objectives of this review are to: (1) synthesise key programme characteristics and outcomes of culturally tailored community-based (CBCT) programmes that are designed to improve health outcomes in black adults with cardiovascular disease, hypertension, diabetes, or stroke and (2) identify which of the five categories of culturally appropriate programmes from Kreuter and colleagues have been used to implement CBCT programmes.

Methods and analysis
This is a protocol for a systematic review that will search Medline, Embase and Cumulative Index to Nursing and Allied Health Literature databases to identify studies of CBCT programmes for black adults with cardiovascular disease, hypertension, diabetes, or stroke between 2000 and 2021. Two reviewers will assess each study based on the inclusion criteria and any disagreements will be resolved by a third reviewer. Data will be extracted using a customised data extraction form to identify programme characteristics and the strategies used to develop culturally appropriate programmes. AMSTAR will be used to evaluate the articles included in the study. The aggregated data will be presented through textual descriptions of programme characteristics and outcomes.

Ethics and dissemination
This systematic review protocol does not require ethics approval without the inclusion of human participants and will use studies that have previously obtained informed consent. The systematic review findings will be disseminated in a peer-reviewed journal and used to inform future research led by JF and HS.

Trial registration number
PROSPERO CRD42021245772.

Leggi
Giugno 2022

Effect of eHealth-delivered exercise programmes on balance in people aged 65 years and over living in the community: a systematic review and meta-analysis of randomised controlled trials

Introduction
Exercise that challenges balance is proven to prevent falls in community-dwelling older people, yet widespread implementation and uptake of effective programmes is low. This systematic review and meta-analysis synthesised the evidence and evaluated the effect of eHealth-delivered exercise programmes compared with control on balance in community-dwelling people aged ≥65 years.

Methods
Nine databases including MEDLINE, CINAHL and Embase, were searched from inception to January 2022 to identify randomised controlled trials evaluating eHealth-delivered exercise programmes for community-dwelling people aged ≥65 years, published in English that included a balance outcome. Primary outcomes were static and dynamic balance. Secondary outcomes included fall risk and fear of falling. We calculated standardised mean differences (SMDs, Hedges’ g) with 95% CIs from random effects meta-analyses.

Results
We identified 14 eligible studies that included 1180 participants. Methodological quality ranged from 3 to 8 (mean, 5). The pooled effect indicated that eHealth-delivered exercise programmes have a medium significant effect on static balance (11 studies; SMD=0.62, 95% CI 0.27 to 0.72) with very low-quality evidence. There was small statistically significant effect on dynamic balance (14 studies; SMD=0.42, 95% CI 0.11 to 0.73) with very low-quality evidence, and fall risk (5 studies; SMD=0.32, 95% CI 0.00 to 0.64) with moderate-quality evidence. No significant effect of eHealth programmes on fear of falling was found (four studies; SMD=0.10, 95% CI –0.05 to 0.24; high-quality evidence).

Conclusion
This review provides preliminary evidence that eHealth-delivered exercise programmes improved balance and reduced fall risk in people aged ≥65 years. There is still uncertainty regarding the effect of eHealth delivered exercise programmes on fear of falling.

PROSPERO registration number
CRD42018115098.

Leggi
Giugno 2022

Effects of proprioceptive training in the recovery of patients submitted to meniscus surgery: systematic review and meta-analysis

Objective
To evaluate the effects of proprioceptive training on rehabilitation of knee after arthroscopic partial meniscectomy (APM).

Design
PubMed, EMBASE, The Cochrane Library, Web of Science, China National Knowledge Infrastructure, Technology Periodical Database, WanFang Data and China Biology Medicine were searched until December 2021 for randomised controlled trials.

Participants
Patients who have undergone APM for meniscus injury caused by traumatic tear.

Results
A total of 9 studies with 453 patients were included in this study for meta-analysis, and 2/9 with high quality, 6/9 with moderate quality. Based on very low quality evidence, the pooled effect showed significant improvement for proprioceptive training group in proprioception test (p

Leggi
Giugno 2022