TY - JOUR
T1 - Standards for reporting research methods, interventions, and Outcomes in Surgical Prehabilitation studies (SOS-Prehab)
AU - Gillis, Chelsia
AU - McIsaac, Daniel I
AU - Santa Mina, Daniel
AU - Chevalier, Stéphanie
AU - Baldini, Gabriele
AU - Carli, Francesco
AU - Scheede-Bergdahl, Celena
AU - Edgar, Linda
AU - Smrk, Vanessa
AU - Avery, Leah
AU - Bessissow, Amal
AU - Coca Martinez, Miquel
AU - Copeland, Robert
AU - Dalton, Susanne Oksbjerg
AU - Danjoux, Gerad
AU - Denehy, Linda
AU - Engel, Dominique
AU - Grimmett, Chloe
AU - Grocott, Michael P
AU - Gill, Heather L
AU - Jack, Sandy
AU - Jensen, Bente Thoft
AU - Levett, Denny
AU - Martinez-Palli, Graciela
AU - Merchant, Zoe
AU - Moore, John
AU - Pecorelli, Nicolò
AU - Randall, Ian
AU - Riedel, Bernhard
AU - Schierbeck, Geoff
AU - Slooter, Gerrit
AU - West, Malcolm
AU - Fiore, Julio F
AU - Collaborators
N1 - © The Author(s) 2026. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of BJS Foundation Ltd.
PY - 2026/3/4
Y1 - 2026/3/4
N2 - BACKGROUND: Prehabilitation, a process of building physiological reserve before surgery to improve postoperative outcomes, is a complex, multimodal intervention that requires rigorous evaluation in clinical trials. Incomplete reporting by such trials obscures essential intervention components and delivery contexts, hindering comparability and interpretability. This, in turn, limits clinical implementation and the replication or refinement of interventions by researchers. The aim of this study was to develop a reporting checklist for RCTs of prehabilitation.METHODS: A modified two-round Delphi process using the EQUATOR framework with 53 international experts across exercise, nutrition, psychological, and perioperative care disciplines was conducted. An initial checklist of candidate items was adapted from existing reporting standards, contextualized for prehabilitation, and iteratively refined through expert voting. Items rated eight to nine on a nine-point scale by ≥70% of participants in round two were classified as 'essential' and those rated seven were considered 'important'.RESULTS: The final checklist comprised 40 items. Sixteen items were classified as 'essential' and 24 items were classified as 'important' for guiding comprehensive reporting of prehabilitation interventions. These items span key domains including intervention components, delivery methods, adherence, participant characteristics, and outcome measures. High agreement among experts underscores the checklist's relevance and usability.CONCLUSION: Adoption of Standards for reporting research methods, interventions, and Outcomes in Surgical Prehabilitation studies (SOS-Prehab), alongside methodological and outcome-reporting items of CONSORT could improve transparency, completeness, and interpretability of prehabilitation trials. This could enable better reproducibility, robust evidence synthesis, and accelerate translation into clinical practice and policy.
AB - BACKGROUND: Prehabilitation, a process of building physiological reserve before surgery to improve postoperative outcomes, is a complex, multimodal intervention that requires rigorous evaluation in clinical trials. Incomplete reporting by such trials obscures essential intervention components and delivery contexts, hindering comparability and interpretability. This, in turn, limits clinical implementation and the replication or refinement of interventions by researchers. The aim of this study was to develop a reporting checklist for RCTs of prehabilitation.METHODS: A modified two-round Delphi process using the EQUATOR framework with 53 international experts across exercise, nutrition, psychological, and perioperative care disciplines was conducted. An initial checklist of candidate items was adapted from existing reporting standards, contextualized for prehabilitation, and iteratively refined through expert voting. Items rated eight to nine on a nine-point scale by ≥70% of participants in round two were classified as 'essential' and those rated seven were considered 'important'.RESULTS: The final checklist comprised 40 items. Sixteen items were classified as 'essential' and 24 items were classified as 'important' for guiding comprehensive reporting of prehabilitation interventions. These items span key domains including intervention components, delivery methods, adherence, participant characteristics, and outcome measures. High agreement among experts underscores the checklist's relevance and usability.CONCLUSION: Adoption of Standards for reporting research methods, interventions, and Outcomes in Surgical Prehabilitation studies (SOS-Prehab), alongside methodological and outcome-reporting items of CONSORT could improve transparency, completeness, and interpretability of prehabilitation trials. This could enable better reproducibility, robust evidence synthesis, and accelerate translation into clinical practice and policy.
KW - Humans
KW - Checklist
KW - Delphi Technique
KW - Preoperative Exercise
KW - Research Design/standards
KW - Randomized Controlled Trials as Topic/standards
KW - Preoperative Care/methods
KW - Trials
KW - Quality
KW - Patient
U2 - 10.1093/bjs/znaf302
DO - 10.1093/bjs/znaf302
M3 - Article
C2 - 41830558
SN - 0007-1323
VL - 113
JO - British Journal of Surgery
JF - British Journal of Surgery
IS - 3
M1 - znaf302
ER -