Current landscape of type 1 diabetes mellitus-related interventional clinical trials registered on ClinicalTrials.gov: a cross-sectional study

Abstract

Aims A better understanding of the current features of type 1 diabetes mellitus (T1DM)-related interventional clinical trials is important for improving clinical trial designs and identifying neglected research areas. Therefore, this study aimed to comprehensively assess T1DM-related interventional clinical trials registered in the ClinicalTrials.gov database. Methods In this cross-sectional study, T1DM-related clinical trials registered in the ClinicalTrials.gov database were searched on July 1, 2020. The characteristics of the relevant trials were assessed. PubMed and Google Scholar were used to search for publication statuses of primary completed studies. Results Overall, 1,421 T1DM-related interventional clinical trials were identified for analysis. Of those trials, 509 (35.8%) involved children and 912 (64.2%) involved only adults. Overall, 63.2% of trials enrolled < 50 participants and 61.9% were registered after patient recruitment. Most trials were single-centered (66.0%). The proportions of trials with children were higher than those with only adults with respect to the primary purpose of health service or prevention (13.6% vs. 4.8%), intervention of device (30.8% vs. 23.9%), education or lifestyle (28.9% vs. 11.3%), and dietary supplement (5.7% vs. 2.5%) (all P < 0.01). Only 24.0% of trials had available results after primary completion. The 5-year cumulative publication rate after primary trial completion was < 40%. Conclusions T1DM-related interventional clinical trials registered in ClinicalTrials.gov were dominated by small single-center studies. Most trials lacked the availability of results and their respective publications. Large multicenter interventional clinical trials on T1DM are needed, and more attention should be paid to improve the publication and dissemination of clinical trials results.