Standards for reporting research methods, interventions, and Outcomes in Surgical Prehabilitation studies (SOS-Prehab).

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.