Australian Research Council Centre Research Articles

ChatGPT Isn't Magic

ChatGPT Isn't Magic

Virtual reality in astronomy education: reflecting on design principles through a dialogue between researchers and practitioners

ABSTRACT Virtual reality (VR) technologies have the potential to transform astronomy education practices profoundly: new forms of visual representations, perceptual engagement and embodied participation promise authentic learning experiences in formal and informal learning spaces. While a growing body of research studies the educational needs and opportunities of VR astronomy education from the learner’s perspective, relatively few studies have explored the perspectives of education and public outreach (EPO) professionals. This study aims to turn our attention to these complementary perspectives and shed light on design considerations for using VR in astronomy education. We unpack design principles as a dialogue between researchers and practitioners, framing this dialogue as an act of reflective practice. The findings and the ensuing dialogue draw on data from two focus group interviews with EPO professionals and scientists from the Australian Research Council Centre of Excellence for Gravitational Wave Discovery. Our design principles centre on aspects of immersion, visualisation, facilitation, and collaboration and can guide astronomy educators who wish to use VR in formal and informal learning environments. Besides, our study contributes to a deeper understanding of the new learning contexts VR technologies can create in astronomy education.

The unfinished agenda of communicable diseases among children and adolescents before the COVID-19 pandemic, 1990–2019: a systematic analysis of the Global Burden of Disease Study 2019

Communicable disease control has long been a focus of global health policy. There have been substantial reductions in the burden and mortality of communicable diseases among children younger than 5 years, but we know less about this burden in older children and adolescents, and it is unclear whether current programmes and policies remain aligned with targets for intervention. This knowledge is especially important for policy and programmes in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic. We aimed to use the Global Burden of Disease (GBD) Study 2019 to systematically characterise the burden of communicable diseases across childhood and adolescence. In this systematic analysis of the GBD study from 1990 to 2019, all communicable diseases and their manifestations as modelled within GBD 2019 were included, categorised as 16 subgroups of common diseases or presentations. Data were reported for absolute count, prevalence, and incidence across measures of cause-specific mortality (deaths and years of life lost), disability (years lived with disability [YLDs]), and disease burden (disability-adjusted life-years [DALYs]) for children and adolescents aged 0-24 years. Data were reported across the Socio-demographic Index (SDI) and across time (1990-2019), and for 204 countries and territories. For HIV, we reported the mortality-to-incidence ratio (MIR) as a measure of health system performance. In 2019, there were 3·0 million deaths and 30·0 million years of healthy life lost to disability (as measured by YLDs), corresponding to 288·4 million DALYs from communicable diseases among children and adolescents globally (57·3% of total communicable disease burden across all ages). Over time, there has been a shift in communicable disease burden from young children to older children and adolescents (largely driven by the considerable reductions in children younger than 5 years and slower progress elsewhere), although children younger than 5 years still accounted for most of the communicable disease burden in 2019. Disease burden and mortality were predominantly in low-SDI settings, with high and high-middle SDI settings also having an appreciable burden of communicable disease morbidity (4·0 million YLDs in 2019 alone). Three cause groups (enteric infections, lower-respiratory-tract infections, and malaria) accounted for 59·8% of the global communicable disease burden in children and adolescents, with tuberculosis and HIV both emerging as important causes during adolescence. HIV was the only cause for which disease burden increased over time, particularly in children and adolescents older than 5 years, and especially in females. Excess MIRs for HIV were observed for males aged 15-19 years in low-SDI settings. Our analysis supports continued policy focus on enteric infections and lower-respiratory-tract infections, with orientation to children younger than 5 years in settings of low socioeconomic development. However, efforts should also be targeted to other conditions, particularly HIV, given its increased burden in older children and adolescents. Older children and adolescents also experience a large burden of communicable disease, further highlighting the need for efforts to extend beyond the first 5 years of life. Our analysis also identified substantial morbidity caused by communicable diseases affecting child and adolescent health across the world. The Australian National Health and Medical Research Council Centre for Research Excellence for Driving Investment in Global Adolescent Health and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.

Blocks

Blocks

The Toy Brick as a Communicative Device for Amplifying Children’s Voices in Research

The Toy Brick as a Communicative Device for Amplifying Children’s Voices in Research

Health and housing consequences of climate-related disasters: a matched case-control study using population-based longitudinal data in Australia

Understanding the role of how people are housed in reducing the long-term health and housing effects of climate-related disasters is crucial given our changing climate. We examine long-term health and housing trajectories and health effects of climate-related disasters in relation to housing vulnerabilities over a decade. We conducted a matched case-control study using longitudinal population-based data from the Household, Income and Labour Dynamics in Australia survey. We included data from people whose homes had been damaged by climate-related disasters (eg, flood, bushfire, or cyclone) between 2009 and 2019 and matched control cohorts with similar sociodemographic profiles who had not been exposed to disaster-related home damage during this period. We included data from de-identified individuals with at least 1 year of data before disaster and 3 years after disaster. One-to-one nearest neighbour matching was performed on the basis of demographic, socioeconomic, housing, health, neighbourhood, location, and climate characteristics 1 year before disaster. Conditional fixed-effects models for matched case-control groups were used to assess health trajectories, using eight quality-of-life domains on mental, emotional, social, and physical wellbeing, and housing trajectories, using three housing aspects of cost (ie, housing affordability and fuel poverty), security (ie, residential stability and tenure security), and condition (ie, housing quality and suitability). Exposure to home damage from climate-related disasters had significant negative effects on people's health and wellbeing at disaster year (difference between exposure and control groups in mental health score was -2·03, 95% CI -3·28 to -0·78; in social functioning score was -3·95, -5·57 to -2·33; and in emotional wellbeing score was -4·62, -7·06 to -2·18), with some effects lasting for 1-2 years after disaster. These effects were more severe for people who had housing affordability stress or were living in poor quality housing before the disaster. People in the exposure group had a slight increase in housing and fuel payment arrears following disasters. Homeowners had increased housing affordability stress (1 year after disaster: 0·29, 95% CI 0·02 to 0·57; 2 years after disaster: 0·25, 0·01 to 0·50), renters had a higher prevalence of acute residential instability (disaster year: 0·27, 0·08 to 0·47), and people who were exposed to disaster-related home damage had a higher prevalence of forced moves than did the control group (disaster year: 0·29, 0·14 to 0·45). Findings support the need for recovery planning and resilience building to consider housing affordability, tenure security, and housing condition. Interventions might require divergent strategies for populations in different precarious housing circumstances, and policies should target long-term housing support services for highly vulnerable groups. The National Health and Medical Research Council Centre of Research Excellence in Healthy Housing, University of Melbourne Affordable Housing Hallmark Research Initiative Seed Funding, Australian Research Council's Centre of Excellence for Children and Families over the Life Course, and Lord Mayor's Charitable Foundation.

It’s All about the Toys!

It’s All about the Toys!

“My Little Influencer”

“My Little Influencer”

The Future Is Furby

The Future Is Furby

Modeling total predation to avoid perverse outcomes from cat control in a data-poor island ecosystem.

Data hungry, complex ecosystem models are often used to predict the consequences of threatened species management, including perverse outcomes. Unfortunately, this approach is impractical in many systems, which have insufficient data to parameterize ecosystem interactions or reliably calibrate or validate such models. Here we demonstrate a different approach, using a minimum realistic model to guide decisions in data- and resource-scarce systems. We illustrate our approach with a case-study in an invaded ecosystem from Christmas Island, Australia, where there are concerns that cat eradication to protect native species, including the red-tailed tropicbird, could release meso-predation by invasive rats. We use biophysical constraints (metabolic demand) and observable parameters (e.g. prey preferences) to assess the combined cat and rat abundances which would threaten the tropicbird population. We find that the population of tropicbirds cannot be sustained if predated by 1607 rats (95% credible interval (CI) [103, 5910]) in the absence of cats, or 21 cats (95% CI [2, 82]) in the absence of rats. For every cat removed from the island, the bird's net population growth rate improves, provided that the rats do not increase by more than 77 individuals (95% CI [30, 174]). Thus, in this context, one cat is equivalent to 30-174 rats. Our methods are especially useful for on-the-ground predator control in the absence of knowledge of predator-predator interactions, to assess whether 1) the current abundance of predators threatens the prey population of interest, 2) managing one predator species alone is sufficient to protect the prey species given potential release of another predator, and 3) control of multiple predator species is needed to meet the conservation goal. Our approach demonstrates how to use limited information for maximum value in data-poor systems, by shifting the focus from predicting future trajectories, to identifying conditions which threaten the conservation goal. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.

Geographical and socioeconomic inequalities in the double burden of malnutrition among women in Southeast Asia: A population-based study

Countries in the South and Southeast Asia region grapple with significant challenges due to the double burden of malnutrition (DBM) in women. An understanding of the country specific DBM geographical and socioeconomic distribution in South and Southeast Asian countries will enable targeting of DBM interventions towards high-risk populations in the region. This study aimed to analyse anthropometric indicators for women's nutrition at national and subnational levels in seven South and Southeast Asian countries and assess the association between nutritional status and socioeconomic factors. We used population-representative cross-sectional data from the Demographic and Health Surveys conducted between 2000 and 2017, for seven South and Southeast Asian countries (Bangladesh, Cambodia, India, Myanmar, Nepal, Pakistan, and Timor-Leste) and estimated national and subnational prevalence of women underweight and overweight. Using a concentration index (CI), we measured relative and absolute inequality across underweight and overweight in urban and rural areas in these countries. In addition, we estimated the health achievement index, integrating mean coverage of nutritional status and the distribution of coverage by rural and urban populations. The prevalence of underweight women ranged from 7.0% (95% CI: 7.0-8.0%) in Pakistan in 2017 to 44.0% (95% CI: 42-45%) in Bangladesh in 2000 and overweight from 11.0% (95% CI: 10-12%) in Bangladesh in 2000 to 67.0% (95% CI: 66-68%) in Pakistan in 2017. In most countries, underweight disproportionately affected the poorest. The concentration indices for underweight were significant in all countries and ranged from –0.04 in Cambodia in 2014 to –0.38 in Pakistan in 2017. In contrast, overweight disproportionately affected the richest, with concentration indices for overweight significant in all countries, ranging from 0.16 in Cambodia in 2010 to 0.45 in Bangladesh in 2007. In most of the countries an absolute measure of inequality decreased overtime, whereas relative measures increased. Disachievement of underweight is more pronounced in rural populations compared to the urban ones. We noted large geographical and socioeconomic disparities in women DBM in South and Southeast Asian countries, at national and subnational levels. Planning, implementation, and evaluation of existing intervention programmes for food and nutrition should be based on subnational level needs and outcomes. This research is partially funded by the Australian Government through the Australian Research Council's Centre of Excellence for Children and Families over the Life Course (Project ID CE200100025).

High-intensity training elicits greater improvements in cardio-metabolic and reproductive outcomes than moderate-intensity training in women with polycystic ovary syndrome: a randomized clinical trial.

Does 12 weeks of high-intensity interval training (HIIT) result in greater improvements in cardio-metabolic and reproductive outcomes compared to standard moderate-intensity continuous training (MICT) in women with polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS)? HIIT offers greater improvements in aerobic capacity, insulin sensitivity and menstrual cyclicity, and larger reductions in hyperandrogenism compared to MICT. Exercise training is recognized to improve clinical outcomes in women with PCOS, but little is known about whether HIIT results in greater health outcomes compared to standard MICT. This was a two-armed randomized clinical trial enrolling a total of 29 overweight women with PCOS between May 2016 and November 2019. Women with PCOS aged 18-45 years were randomly assigned to 12 weeks of either MICT (60-75% peak heart rate, N = 14) or HIIT (>90% peak heart rate, N = 15), each completed three times per week. The primary clinical outcomes were aerobic capacity (VO2peak) and insulin sensitivity (euglycaemic-hyperinsulinaemic clamp). Secondary outcomes included hormonal profiles, menstrual cyclicity and body composition. Both HIIT and MICT improved VO2peak (HIIT; Δ 5.8 ± 2.6 ml/kg/min, P < 0.001 and MICT; Δ 3.2 ± 2 ml/kg/min, P < 0.001), however, the HIIT group had a greater improvement in aerobic capacity compared to MICT (β = 2.73 ml/kg/min, P = 0.015). HIIT increased the insulin sensitivity index compared to baseline (Δ 2.3 ± 4.4 AU, P = 0.007) and MICT (β = 0.36 AU, P = 0.030), and caused higher increases in sex hormone-binding globulin compared to MICT (β = 0.25 nmol/l, P = 0.002). HIIT participants were 7.8 times more likely to report improved menstrual cyclicity than those in the MICT group (odds ratio 7.8, P = 0.04). This study has a small sample size and the findings of the effect of the exercise interventions are limited to overweight reproductive-aged women, who do not have any co-existing co-morbidities that require medication. Exercise, regardless of intensity, has clear health benefits for women with PCOS. HIIT appears to be a more beneficial strategy and should be considered for promoting health and reducing cardio-metabolic risk in overweight women with PCOS. This work was supported by a Project Support Grant from the Australian National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) Centre for Research Excellence in PCOS. The authors have no conflicts of interest to disclose. ACTRN12615000242527. 19 February 2015. 27 May 2016.

History of Emotions: Where Are We?

As we celebrate the tenth anniversary of the establishment of the CHE, the Australian Research Council Centre of Excellence for the History of Emotion (initially focusing on Europe 1100–1800 and with the late Professor Philippa Maddern as its founding Director) and the fifth anniversary of the launch of the journal Emotions: History, Culture, Society (founding Editors: Katie Barclay, Andrew Lynch, Giovanni Tarantino), it is only pertinent that we look back and assess our efforts by hearing from some prominent emotions scholars who contributed in different ways and capacities to this pathbreaking intellectual journey.

Non-invasive, label-free optical analysis to detect aneuploidy within the inner cell mass of the preimplantation embryo.

Can label-free, non-invasive optical imaging by hyperspectral autofluorescence microscopy discern between euploid and aneuploid cells within the inner cell mass (ICM) of the mouse preimplantation embryo? Hyperspectral autofluorescence microscopy enables discrimination between euploid and aneuploid ICM in mouse embryos. Euploid/aneuploid mosaicism affects up to 17.3% of human blastocyst embryos with trophectoderm biopsy or spent media currently utilized to diagnose aneuploidy and mosaicism in clinical in vitro fertilization. Based on their design, these approaches will fail to diagnose the presence or proportion of aneuploid cells within the foetal lineage ICM of some blastocyst embryos. The impact of aneuploidy on cellular autofluorescence and metabolism of primary human fibroblast cells and mouse embryos was assessed using a fluorescence microscope adapted for imaging with multiple spectral channels (hyperspectral imaging). Primary human fibroblast cells with known ploidy were subjected to hyperspectral imaging to record native cell fluorescence (4-6 independent replicates, euploid n = 467; aneuploid n = 969). For mouse embryos, blastomeres from the eight-cell stage (five independent replicates: control n = 39; reversine n = 44) and chimeric blastocysts (eight independent replicates: control n = 34; reversine n = 34; 1:1 (control:reversine) n = 30 and 1:3 (control:reversine) n = 37) were utilized for hyperspectral imaging. The ICM from control and reversine-treated embryos were mechanically dissected and their karyotype confirmed by whole genome sequencing (n = 13 euploid and n = 9 aneuploid). Two models were employed: (i) primary human fibroblasts with known karyotype and (ii) a mouse model of embryo aneuploidy where mouse embryos were treated with reversine, a reversible spindle assembly checkpoint inhibitor, during the four- to eight-cell division. Individual blastomeres were dissociated from control and reversine-treated eight-cell embryos and either imaged directly or used to generate chimeric blastocysts with differing ratios of control:reversine-treated cells. Individual blastomeres and embryos were interrogated by hyperspectral imaging. Changes in cellular metabolism were determined by quantification of metabolic co-factors (inferred from their autofluorescence signature): NAD(P)H and flavins with the subsequent calculation of the optical redox ratio (ORR: flavins/[NAD(P)H + flavins]). Autofluorescence signals obtained from hyperspectral imaging were examined mathematically to extract features from each cell/blastomere/ICM. This was used to discriminate between different cell populations. An increase in the relative abundance of NAD(P)H and decrease in flavins led to a significant reduction in the ORR for aneuploid cells in primary human fibroblasts and reversine-treated mouse blastomeres (P < 0.05). Mathematical analysis of endogenous cell autofluorescence achieved separation between (i) euploid and aneuploid primary human fibroblast cells, (ii) control and reversine-treated mouse blastomeres cells, (iii) control and reversine-treated chimeric blastocysts, (iv) 1:1 and 1:3 chimeric blastocysts and (v) confirmed euploid and aneuploid ICM from mouse blastocysts. The accuracy of these separations was supported by receiver operating characteristic curves with areas under the curve of 0.97, 0.99, 0.87, 0.88 and 0.93, respectively. We believe that the role of chance is low as mathematical features separated euploid from aneuploid in both human fibroblasts and ICM of mouse blastocysts. N/A. Although we were able to discriminate between euploid and aneuploid ICM in mouse blastocysts, confirmation of this approach in human embryos is required. While we show this approach is safe in mouse, further validation is required in large animal species prior to implementation in a clinical setting. We have developed an original, accurate and non-invasive optical approach to assess aneuploidy within the ICM of mouse embryos in the absence of fluorescent tags. Hyperspectral autofluorescence imaging was able to discriminate between euploid and aneuploid human fibroblast and mouse blastocysts (ICM). This approach may potentially lead to a new diagnostic for embryo analysis. K.R.D. is supported by a Mid-Career Fellowship from the Hospital Research Foundation (C-MCF-58-2019). This study was funded by the Australian Research Council Centre of Excellence for Nanoscale Biophotonics (CE140100003) and the National Health and Medical Research Council (APP2003786). The authors declare that there is no conflict of interest.

Settlement Predictions of a Trial Embankment on Ballina Clay

An instrumented trial embankment was constructed on the soft ground with the use of prefabricated vertical drains at Ballina in northern New South Wales (NSW, Australia) as part of the Australian Research Council Centre of Excellence for Geotechnical Science and Engineering (CGSE) research program. Comprehensive geotechnical site investigations were performed and field monitoring data were collected, which make it possible to study and compare various settlement prediction methods. In this paper, the Asaoka method, the Hyperbolic method, and the Bayesian updating approach are employed to predict the settlement of the trial embankment. The predictions of the three methods are compared for different amounts of monitoring data. The results show that the predicted settlements are close to the measurements and the accuracy of the ultimate settlement prediction can be improved by incorporating more monitoring data. The time increment can significantly influence the accuracy of the result predicted by the Asaoka method. The Bayesian updating approach is in agreement with the observed settlement by using only 215 days of the monitoring data. Normal 0 false false false EN-US X-NONE X-NONE /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:Table Normal; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-priority:99; mso-style-parent:; mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; mso-para-margin:0in; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:10.0pt; font-family:Times New Roman,serif;}

Mitigating Climate Change: Growth-Friendly Policies to Achieve Net Zero Emissions by 2050

Background paper prepared for the October 2020 IMF World Economic Outlook. This paper provides a detailed presentation of the simulation results from the October 2020 IMF World Economic Outlook chapter 3 and an additional scenario with carbon pricing only for comparison with the comprehensive policy package where green investments were also included. This paper has greatly benefitted from continuous discussions with Oya Celasun and Benjamin Carton on the design of simulations; contributions from Philip Barrett for part of the simulations; and research support from Jaden Kim. We also received helpful comments from other IMF staff. All remaining errors are ours. McKibbin and Liu acknowledge financial support from the Australian Research Council Centre of Excellence in Population Ageing Research (CE170100005).

MSSM at future Higgs factories * *HL was Supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (NNSFC) (11635009) and Natural Science Foundation of Shandong Province (ZR2017JL006). HS and SS are Supported in part by the Department of Energy (DE-FG02-13ER41976/DE-SC0009913). WS is Supported by the Australian Research Council (ARC) Centre of Excellence for Dark Matter Particle Physics (CE200100008). JMY was

In this work, we study the implications of Higgs precision measurements at future Higgs factories for the MSSM parameter space, focusing on the dominant stop sector contributions. We perform a multi-variable fit to both the signal strength for various Higgs decay channels at Higgs factories and the Higgs mass. The χ 2 fit results show sensitivity to mA , tan β, stop mass parameter m SUSY , and the stop left-right mixing parameter Xt. We also study the impact of the Higgs mass prediction on the MSSM and compare the sensitivities of different Higgs factories.

Development of an &lt;i&gt; in-situ&lt;/i&gt; Printing System with Human Platelet Lysate Based Bioink to Treat Corneal Perforation

Purpose: Corneal perforation is a clinical emergency. Tissue glue to seal the perforation, and supplementary topical medication represents existing standard treatment. Previously, our group developed a transparent bioink that showed good cell compatibility and accelerated corneal epithelial cells healing in-vitro. This study aims to develop a novel treatment method for corneal perforation using this bioink. Methods: Rheometry was used to measure bioink behaviour at room and corneal surface temperatures. Bioink adhesiveness to porcine skin and burst pressure limit were also measured. Based on rheological behaviour, a hand-held biopen was developed to extrude the bioink onto the cornea. An animal trial (5 New Zealand white rabbits) to compare bioink and cyanoacrylate glue (control group) impact on a 2mm perforation was conducted to evaluate safety and efficacy. Results: Bioink has higher adhesiveness compared to commercial fibrin glue and can withstand burst pressure approximately 6.4x higher than routine intraocular pressure. Bioink-treated rabbits had lower pain score and faster recovery, despite generating similar scar-forming structure after healing compared to controls. No secondary corneal ulcer was generated in rabbits treated with bioink. Conclusions: This study reports a novel in-situ printing system capable of delivering a transparent bioink to the cornea and successfully treating small corneal perforations. Bioink-treated rabbits recovered faster to completely healed perforation and required no additional analgesia. Both groups showed scarred corneal tissue after healing, however no infection and inflammation was observed 3 weeks. The delivery system was easy to use and may represent an alternative treatment for corneal perforation. Funding Information: We acknowledge the funding support from Australian Research Council (ARC) Centre of Excellence Scheme (CE140100012), Sydney Eye Hospital Foundation and NSW Medical Device Fund. The hPL used within the study was a gift from Australia Red Cross. Declaration of Interests: J. You (P), iFix Medical (I,F); H. Frazer (P); S. Sayyar, None; Z. Chen, None; X. Liu, None; A. Taylor, None; B. Filippi, None; S. Beirne, None; I. Wise, None; C. Hodge, None; G. Wallace, None; G. Sutton (P), iFix Medical (I). Ethics Approval Statement: Human corneas not meeting transplantation quality requirements were obtained from New South Wales Organ & Tissue Donation Service (Human Research Ethics Committee approval 14/275). The trial was conducted at the University of Sydney Charles Perkins Centre Laboratory Animal House Facility with Animal Ethics Committee approval (AEC: 2018/1317).

Understanding the Deep Socioecological System of Beringia via Bathsheba Demuth’s Floating Coast

Previous articleNext article No AccessBook and Film ReviewsUnderstanding the Deep Socioecological System of Beringia via Bathsheba Demuth’s Floating Coast Floating Coast: An Environmental History of the Bering Strait. By Bathsheba Demuth. New York: W.W. Norton, 2019.Stefani A. CrabtreeStefani A. CrabtreeDepartment of Environment and Society, College of Natural Resources, Utah State University, 5215 Old Main Hill, Logan, Utah 84322-5215, USA; Santa Fe Institute, 1399 Hyde Park Road, Santa Fe, New Mexico 87501, USA; Australian Research Council Centre of Excellence for Australian Biodiversity and Heritage, James Cook University, PO Box 6811, Cairns, Queensland 4870, Australia; and Crow Canyon Research Institute, 23390 Road K, Cortez, Colorado 81321, USA ([email protected]). Search for more articles by this author PDFPDF PLUSFull Text Add to favoritesDownload CitationTrack CitationsPermissionsReprints Share onFacebookTwitterLinkedInRedditEmail SectionsMoreDetailsFiguresReferencesCited by Current Anthropology Volume 61, Number 5October 2020 Sponsored by the Wenner-Gren Foundation for Anthropological Research Article DOIhttps://doi.org/10.1086/711097 Views: 213Total views on this site HistoryAccepted July 21, 2020 © 2020 by The Wenner-Gren Foundation for Anthropological Research. All rights reserved. For permission to reuse, please contact [email protected]PDF download Crossref reports no articles citing this article.

Harmonising research outcomes for polycystic ovary syndrome: an international multi-stakeholder core outcome set.

What are the key core outcomes to be reported in studies on polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS)? We identified 3 generic and 30 specific core outcomes in 6 specialist domains: metabolic (8), reproductive (7), pregnancy (10), oncological (1), psychological (1) and long-term outcomes (1). Research reporting PCOS is heterogeneous with high variation in outcome selection, definition and quality. Evidence synthesis and a modified Delphi method with e-surveys were used as well as a consultation meeting. Overall, 71 health professionals and 123 lay consumers (women with lived experience of PCOS and members of advocacy and peer support groups) from 17 high-, middle- and low-income countries were involved in this analysis. The final core outcome set included 3 generic outcomes (BMI, quality of life, treatment satisfaction) that are applicable to all studies on women with PCOS and 30 specific outcomes that were categorised into six specialist domains: 8 metabolic outcomes (waist circumference, type 2 diabetes, insulin resistance, impaired glucose tolerance, hypertension, coronary heart disease, lipid profile, venous thromboembolic disease); 7 reproductive outcomes [viable pregnancy (confirmed by ultrasound including singleton, twins and higher multiples), clinical and biochemical hyperandrogenism, menstrual regularity, reproductive hormonal profile, chronic anovulation, ovulation stimulation success including the number of stimulated follicles ≥ 12mm, incidence and severity of ovarian hyperstimulation syndrome]; 10 pregnancy outcomes (live birth, miscarriage, stillbirth, neonatal mortality, gestational weight gain, gestational diabetes, preterm birth, hypertensive disease in pregnancy, baby birth weight, major congenital abnormalities); 3 psychological outcomes (depression, anxiety, eating disorders); 1 oncological (abnormal endometrial proliferation including atypical endometrial hyperplasia and endometrial cancer); and 1 outcome in the long-term domain (long-term offspring metabolic and developmental outcomes). We involved lay consumers in all stages of study through e-surveys but not through focus groups, thereby limiting our understanding of their choices. We did not address the variations in the definitions and measurement tools for some of the core outcomes. Implementing this core outcome set in future studies on women with PCOS will improve the quality of reporting and aid evidence synthesis. Evidence synthesis was funded through the Australian government, National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) Centre for Research Excellence in PCOS, and H.T. is funded through an NHMRC fellowship. B.H.A. is funded through an NIHR lectureship. All authors have no competing interest to declare.