Peter Hall

TARGET 2025 Statement This Special Communication introduces the Transparent Reporting of Observational Studies Emulating a Target Trial (TARGET) 2025 guideline, a consensus-based guidance for reporting observational studie...

The TARGET reporting guidelines for target trial emulation studies have arrived!

#EpiSky #CausalSky

jamanetwork.com/journals/jam...

Adjuvant chemotherapy and hormonotherapy versus adjuvant hormonotherapy alone for women aged 70 years and older with high-risk breast cancer based on the genomic grade index (ASTER 70s): a randomised ... The addition of adjuvant chemotherapy to hormonotherapy conferred no survival benefit in women aged 70 years and above with a GGI high-risk oestrogen receptor-positive HER2-negative breast cancer, and...

Adjuvant chemotherapy and hormonotherapy versus adjuvant hormonotherapy alone for women aged 70 years and older with high-risk breast cancer based on the genomic grade index (ASTER 70s): a randomised phase 3 trial - The Lancet www.thelancet.com/journals/lan...

Bar chart of total unpaid hours worked across the NHS, expressed as full-time equivalent staff, 2019 to 2024 showing unpaid overtime in 2024 equivalent to workload of at least 33,000 full-time staff.

In this blog, Jack Elliott and Elaine Kelly examine trends in unpaid overtime among NHS staff since 2019 and consider the implications for future productivity.

Read more ⬇️
https://bit.ly/4mILY3C

The C-index Multiverse Quantifying out-of-sample discrimination performance for time-to-event outcomes is a fundamental step for model evaluation and selection in the context of predictive modelling. The concordance index, ...

Preprint "The C-Index Multiverse" arxiv.org/abs/2508.14821

POTENTIAL RISKS OF TARGET TRIAL TERMINOLOGY There are risks that the term target trial emulation (TTE) might mislead readers without methodological training. We believe some readers may assume TTE represents a distinct form of observational study design, rather than a framework to help researchers identify and avoid self-inflicted errors in observational studies. We are particularly concerned that claims to have emulated an RCT will be mistaken for a claim to have successfully emulated an RCT. The latter statement implies that the inference is of a comparable standard to a well-conducted RCT. To be certain, the TTE framework (2), used correctly, will help investigators specify estimands, and sidestep avoidable selection bias, but we are probably more pessimistic than Schwarze et al. (1) about the ability of ‘‘advanced methods’’ to address the threat of other sources of bias.

However, the difference in how randomization accounts for confounding vs. ‘‘advanced methods’’ like covariate adjustment, weighting, etc. is a difference in kind, not in degree. This is because randomization is guaranteed to eliminate confounding for some key estimands, and to do so in a manner that predominantly rests on our trust in a potentially verifiable randomization process. In contrast, acting on the effect estimate returned from an NRSI requires us to trust in the decisions and competence of the investigator, and even then, no guarantee is possible, even in relatively simple sets of relationships among a small set of potential covariates. This distinction will be obvious to methodological experts, but they only constitute a small proportion of researchers and research-consumers

Target trial emulation is an important, useful idea, but we must remain careful to not allow novices to think it's a magical shortcut to causal inference. Nor can we lose sight of the *main* thing that separates randomized from non-randomized studies.

Do. Not. Give. This. To. The. Medics. PLEASE.

Vaginal estrogen therapy initiation after breast cancer and oncological outcomes: a nationwide population-based target trial emulation. https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2024.10.23.24315966v1 Background: Genitourinary syndrome of menopause (GSM) frequently occurs after breast cancer (BC), le

Vaginal estrogen therapy initiation after breast cancer and oncological outcomes: a nationwide population-based target trial emulation. https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2024.10.23.24315966v1

www.nature.com/articles/s41...

We're hiring!
A vacancy has opened up in the team for the position of Post-Doctoral Research Fellow. 🔬 🧑🏼‍💻

If this sounds like something you'd be interested in, details can be found on our website below. 👇

cancer-data.ecrc.ed.ac.uk/2025/03/07/r...

Haven't registered your place for the Beatson International Cancer Conference 2025 yet? Find out what delegates had to say about last year's event

📅Register by 21 March: beatsonconference.org

#BICC2025

Home | EBCSS 2025 Edinburgh EBCSS Edinburgh International Breast Cancer Conference

Today is the 4th Edinburgh Breast Cancer Special Symposium #EBCSS25 www.ebcss.org

A pooled analysis evaluating prognostic significance of Residual Cancer Burden in invasive lobular breast cancer - npj Breast Cancer npj Breast Cancer - A pooled analysis evaluating prognostic significance of Residual Cancer Burden in invasive lobular breast cancer

A pooled analysis evaluating prognostic significance of Residual Cancer Burden in invasive lobular breast cancer www.nature.com/articles/s41...

📌 Adjuvant Atezolizumab for Early Triple-Negative Breast CancerThe ALEXANDRA/IMpassion030 Randomized Clinical Trial

jamanetwork.com/journals/jama/…
@oncoalert.bsky.social

Annual versus less frequent mammographic surveillance in people with breast cancer aged 50 years and older in the UK (Mammo-50): a multicentre, randomised, phase 3, non-inferiority trial - The Lancet www.thelancet.com/journals/lan...

£10m funding for new programme to help identify individual cancer risk - Cancer Research UK - Cancer News Today, Cancer Research UK, the NIHR and the EPSRC are announcing £10 million to create the Cancer Data-Driven Detection programme

Together with the NIHR (National Institute for Health and Care Research), the EPSRC, Health Data Research UK (HDR UK) and ADR UK (Administrative Data Research UK), we’re announcing a £10m programme which will help identify individual cancer risk 🙌

Read more 👉 cruk.ink/42q0aaY

TOURISM study (Treatment Outcomes in UteRIne SarcoMa): a 10-year retrospective evaluation of practice in the UK - PubMed Our data highlight the diversity in patient management in uterine sarcoma and a marked survival advantage for patients diagnosed with stage I disease. These data highlight the importance of a multidis...

So happy to share the latest study from NOTCH led by Dr Karen Mactier from @NHS_Lothian @UofGlasgow, looking at UK-wide practice in managing a rare cancer, uterine sarcoma

👇👇👇

pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/39725428/

Job Opportunity at University of Leeds: Research Fellow Are you an ambitious researcher looking for your next challenge? Do you have a background in economics, econometrics, statistics, epidemiology or health data science? Are you interested in working wit...

Are you a health economist, epidemiologist or data scientist with experience using routine healthcare data? Interested in equity in cancer care? Come and join this exciting @nihr.bsky.social funded project! Work with a range of stakeholders and build your skills. jobs.leeds.ac.uk/Vacancy.aspx...

4w Denosumab or 12w

The efficacy results of the REDUSE study are not mature yet but the tox results are in

Less drug - fewer tox events

ONJ all grades 8.1 vs 5.2%
#SABCS24

Efficacy of Reduced-Intensity Chemotherapy Among Older and Frail Patients With Advanced Gastroesophageal Cancer This randomized clinical trial assesses the efficacy of reduced-intensity chemotherapy for patient quality of life and cancer control in the treatment of older and/or frail patients.

#SABCS24 FDA session highlighting need to consider Minimum Effictive Dose, not just Maximum Tolerated Dose. Reminds me of the GO2 trial in gastric ca last decade. Breast cancer drug development catching up? jamanetwork.com/journals/jam...

The Sudlow Review on the challenges and opportunities for using UK linked healthcare data for research www.hdruk.ac.uk/helping-with...

Our latest in @naturecomms.bsky.social from @danafarber.bsky.social / @mskcc.bsky.social collaboration: AI to extract cancer outcomes in EMR!

www.nature.com/articles/s41...

De-escalated neoadjuvant weekly nab-paclitaxel with trastuzumab and pertuzumab versus docetaxel, carboplatin, trastuzumab, and pertuzumab in patients with HER2-positive early breast cancer (HELEN-006)... These findings might suggest a potential advantage of nab-paclitaxel combined with trastuzumab and pertuzumab compared with the standard regimen in neoadjuvant therapy for patients with HER2-positive ...

Very good to see more de-escalation trials publishing in HER2 positive early breast cancer. Here the HELEN-006 trial. www.thelancet.com/journals/lan...

UK national observational cohort study investigating Tolerance of Anti-cancer Systemic Therapy in the Elderly: the TOASTIE study Objective The Cancer and Aging Research Group (CARG) score was developed to predict severe chemotherapy-induced toxicity risk in older adults; validation study results have varied. The Tolerance of An...

📣 Check out this recent study:

UK national observational cohort study investigating Tolerance of Anti-cancer Systemic Therapy in the Elderly: the TOASTIE study

From @drmarkbaxter.bsky.social and colleagues: bmjoncology.bmj.com/content/3/1/...
#cancer #chemotherapy

Early versus deferred use of CDK4/6 inhibitors in advanced breast cancer - Nature The phase 3 SONIA trial challenges the benefits of using cyclin-dependent kinase 4 and 6 inhibitors as a first-line compared with second-line treatment.

This is how we should be doing Oncology trials - the Dutch SONIA trial looking at treatment sequencing of CDK 4/6 inhibitors in advanced breast cancer. A self funding efficiency trial! #oncsky www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Our latest mixed-methods paper in #bmjopen describes where cancer patients and staff found benefit in using an eHealth #proms based intervention as part of routine care during systemic/chemo treatment. bmjopen.bmj.com/content/bmjo...

Any good starter packs out there for folks using routine healthcare data for cancer research? #oncsky #cancerinformatics #causalinference

Illness trajectories of incurable solid cancers

We need to shift our approach to ambulatory palliative care education to managing patients over years and also define the boundaries and ways to collaborate between us and primary care for those living with cancer

pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/38428972/

The cost of cancer: what does it mean for the UK’s growth mission - Cancer Research UK - Cancer News The OECD's report on the economic impact of cancer makes it clear the UK government needs to focus on tackling the disease.

🧵

New research published today by the OECD:

💷 #Cancer adds £14.4bn to annual UK #health expenditure - even accounting for other health costs those who don't get cancer go on to require

📈Without action, per capita costs could increase by >50% by 2050

1/

news.cancerresearchuk.org/2024/11/21/t...

Patients with #cancer favour evidence of success over quick drug approvals.

Ajay Aggarwal explains while offering patients new treatment options is crucial, survey suggests not all patients want faster cancer drug approvals without certainty they work. #PublicHealth

www.lshtm.ac.uk/newsevents/n...

This is a very thorough review!