Assessing use of surrogate outcome measures in randomized controlled trials investigating venous thromboembolism prophylaxis

Background: Outcome measures in randomized controlled trials (RCTs) can be classified as patient-important, surrogate and composite outcomes. Venous thromboembolism (VTE) prophylaxis trials often use surrogate or composite outcome measures, often involving radiographically detected and clinically asymptomatic VTE. The clinical relevance of such outcomes is controversial.

Objective: To establish the prevalence of surrogate outcome measures in VTE …