Reporting guidelines for clinical trial reports for interventions involving artificial intelligence: the CONSORT-AI extension

Xiaoxuan Liu, Samantha Cruz Rivera, David Moher, Melanie J. Calvert, Alastair K. Denniston*, An Wen Chan, Ara Darzi, Christopher Holmes, Christopher Yau, Hutan Ashrafian, Jonathan J. Deeks, Lavinia Ferrante di Ruffano, Livia Faes, Pearse A. Keane, Sebastian J. Vollmer, Aaron Y. Lee, Adrian Jonas, Andre Esteva, Andrew L. Beam, An Wen ChanMaria Beatrice Panico, Cecilia S. Lee, Charlotte Haug, Christopher J. Kelly, Cynthia Mulrow, Cyrus Espinoza, John Fletcher, Dina Paltoo, Elaine Manna, Gary Price, Gary S. Collins, Hugh Harvey, James Matcham, Joao Monteiro, M. Khair ElZarrad, Lavinia Ferrante di Ruffano, Luke Oakden-Rayner, Melissa McCradden, Pearse A. Keane, Richard Savage, Robert Golub, Rupa Sarkar, Samuel Rowley, The SPIRIT-AI and CONSORT-AI Working Group, SPIRIT-AI and CONSORT-AI Steering Group, Michel Vaillant

*Corresponding author for this work

    Research output: Contribution to journalArticleResearchpeer-review

    368 Citations (Scopus)

    Abstract

    The CONSORT 2010 statement provides minimum guidelines for reporting randomized trials. Its widespread use has been instrumental in ensuring transparency in the evaluation of new interventions. More recently, there has been a growing recognition that interventions involving artificial intelligence (AI) need to undergo rigorous, prospective evaluation to demonstrate impact on health outcomes. The CONSORT-AI (Consolidated Standards of Reporting Trials–Artificial Intelligence) extension is a new reporting guideline for clinical trials evaluating interventions with an AI component. It was developed in parallel with its companion statement for clinical trial protocols: SPIRIT-AI (Standard Protocol Items: Recommendations for Interventional Trials–Artificial Intelligence). Both guidelines were developed through a staged consensus process involving literature review and expert consultation to generate 29 candidate items, which were assessed by an international multi-stakeholder group in a two-stage Delphi survey (103 stakeholders), agreed upon in a two-day consensus meeting (31 stakeholders) and refined through a checklist pilot (34 participants). The CONSORT-AI extension includes 14 new items that were considered sufficiently important for AI interventions that they should be routinely reported in addition to the core CONSORT 2010 items. CONSORT-AI recommends that investigators provide clear descriptions of the AI intervention, including instructions and skills required for use, the setting in which the AI intervention is integrated, the handling of inputs and outputs of the AI intervention, the human–AI interaction and provision of an analysis of error cases. CONSORT-AI will help promote transparency and completeness in reporting clinical trials for AI interventions. It will assist editors and peer reviewers, as well as the general readership, to understand, interpret and critically appraise the quality of clinical trial design and risk of bias in the reported outcomes.

    Original languageEnglish
    Pages (from-to)1364-1374
    Number of pages11
    JournalNature Medicine
    Volume26
    Issue number9
    DOIs
    Publication statusPublished - 1 Sept 2020

    Fingerprint

    Dive into the research topics of 'Reporting guidelines for clinical trial reports for interventions involving artificial intelligence: the CONSORT-AI extension'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

    Cite this