Transparent Reporting of Observational Studies Emulating a Target Trial—The TARGET Statement

作者：Aidan G Cashin, Harrison J Hansford, Miguel A. Hernán, Sonja A. Swanson, Hopin Lee, Matthew D. Jones, Issa J Dahabreh, Barbra A. Dickerman, Matthias Egger, Xabier García‐Albéniz, Robert Golub, Nazrul Islam, Sara Lodi, Margarita Moreno‐Betancur, Sallie‐Anne Pearson, Sebastian Schneeweiß, Melissa K. Sharp, Jonathan A C Sterne, Elizabeth A. Stuart, James H. McAuley · 发表于：JAMA · 年份：2025 · DOI：10.1001/jama.2025.13350 · 被引用次数：181 · 研究领域：Advanced Causal Inference Techniques、Meta-analysis and systematic reviews、Health Policy Implementation Science

Importance: When randomized trials are unavailable or not feasible, observational studies can be used to answer causal questions about the comparative effects of interventions by attempting to emulate a hypothetical pragmatic randomized trial (target trial). Published guidance to aid reporting of these studies is not available. Objective: To develop consensus-based guidance for reporting observational studies performed to estimate causal effects by explicitly emulating a target trial. Design, Setting, and Participants: The Transparent Reporting of Observational Studies Emulating a Target Trial (TARGET) guideline was developed using the Enhancing the Quality and Transparency of Health Research (EQUATOR) framework. The development included (1) a systematic review of reporting practices in published studies that had explicitly aimed to emulate a target trial; (2) a 2-round online survey (August 2023 to March 2024; 18 expert participants from 6 countries) to assess the importance of candidate items selected from previous research and to identify additional items; (3) a 3-day expert consensus meeting (June 2024; 18 panelists) to refine the scope of the guideline and draft the checklist; and (4) pilot of the draft checklist with stakeholders (n = 108; September 2024 to February 2025). The checklist was further refined based on feedback on successive drafts. Findings: The 21-item TARGET checklist is organized into 6 sections (abstract, introduction, methods, results, discussion, oth...