Methods and Processes of Developing the Strengthening the Reporting of Observational Studies in Epidemiology - Veterinary (STROBE-Vet) Statement

Zoonoses Public Health. 2016 Nov 22. doi: 10.1111/zph.12314. [Epub ahead of print]

Sargeant JM^1,2, O'Connor AM³, Dohoo IR⁴, Erb HN⁵, Cevallos M⁶, Egger M⁶, Ersbøll AK⁷, Martin SW², Nielsen LR⁸, Pearl DL², Pfeiffer DU⁹, Sanchez J¹⁰, Torrence ME¹¹, Vigre H¹², Waldner C¹³, Ward MP¹⁴.

Author information

• ¹Centre for Public Health and Zoonoses, University of Guelph, Guelph, ON, Canada.
• ²Department of Population Medicine, Ontario Veterinary College, Guelph, ON, Canada.
• ³Department of Veterinary Diagnostic and Production Animal Medicine, Iowa State University, Ames, IA, USA.
• ⁴Centre for Veterinary Epidemiological Research, University of Prince Edward Island, Charlottetown, PEI, Canada.
• ⁵Department of Population Medicine and Diagnostic Sciences, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY, USA.
• ⁶Institute of Social and Preventive Medicine, University of Bern, Bern, Switzerland.
• ⁷National Institute of Public Health, University of Southern Denmark, Copenhagen, Denmark.
• ⁸Section for Animal Welfare and Disease Control, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark.
• ⁹Department of Production and Population Health, Royal Veterinary College, London, UK.
• ¹⁰Department of Health Management, University of Prince Edward Island, Charlottetown, PEI, Canada.
• ¹¹Food and Drug Administration, Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition, College Park, MD, USA.
• ¹²Unit for Genomic Epidemiology, National Food Institute, Technical University of Denmark, Lyngby, Denmark.
• ¹³Department of Large Animal Clinical Sciences, Western College of Veterinary Medicine, University of Saskatchewan, Saskatoon, SK, Canada.
• ¹⁴Faculty of Veterinary Science, The University of Sydney, Sydney, NSW, Australia.

Abstract

The reporting of observational studies in veterinary research presents many challenges that often are not adequately addressed in published reporting guidelines. A consensus meeting of experts was organized to develop an extension of the STROBE statement to address observational studies in veterinary medicine with respect to animal health, animal production, animal welfare and food safety outcomes. The consensus meeting was held 11-13 May 2014 in Mississauga, Ontario, Canada. Seventeen experts from North America, Europe and Australia attended the meeting. The experts were epidemiologists and biostatisticians, many of whom hold or have held editorial positions with relevant journals. Prior to the meeting, 19 experts completed a survey about whether they felt any of the 22 items of the STROBE statement should be modified and whether items should be added to address unique issues related to observational studies in animal species with health, production, welfare or food safety outcomes. At the meeting, the participants were provided with the survey responses and relevant literature concerning the reporting of veterinary observational studies. During the meeting, each STROBE item was discussed to determine whether or not re-wording was recommended, and whether additions were warranted. Anonymous voting was used to determine whether there was consensus for each item change or addition. The consensus was that six items needed no modifications or additions. Modifications or additions were made to the STROBE items numbered as follows: 1 (title and abstract), 3 (objectives), 5 (setting), 6 (participants), 7 (variables), 8 (data sources/measurement), 9 (bias), 10 (study size), 12 (statistical methods), 13 (participants), 14 (descriptive data), 15 (outcome data), 16 (main results), 17 (other analyses), 19 (limitations) and 22 (funding). Published literature was not always available to support modification to, or inclusion of, an item. The methods and processes used in the development of this statement were similar to those used for other extensions of the STROBE statement. The use of this extension to the STROBE statement should improve the reporting of observational studies in veterinary research related to animal health, production, welfare or food safety outcomes by recognizing the unique features of observational studies involving food-producing and companion animals, products of animal origin, aquaculture and wildlife.

© 2016 The Authors. Zoonoses and Public Health published by Blackwell Verlag GmbH.

KEYWORDS:

Reporting guidelines; animal; observational study; veterinary