The National Lung Screening Trial's Endpoint Verification Process: determining the cause of death.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Randomized controlled trials (RCTs) evaluating cancer screening modalities usually employ cause-specific mortality as their primary endpoint. Because death certificate cause of death can be inaccurate, RCTs frequently use review committees to assign an underlying cause of death. We describe the National Lung Screening Trial's (NLST's) death review approach, the Endpoint Verification Process (EVP), which strives to minimize errors in assignment of cause of death due to lung cancer.

Methods

Deaths selected for review include those with a notation of lung cancer on the death certificate and those occurring among participants ever diagnosed with lung cancer. Other criteria that trigger death review include, but are not limited to, death within 6 months of a screen sus

SUBMITTER: Marcus PM 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3185147 | biostudies-literature | 2011 Nov

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature