PubMed Health⌕ Search

Biomedical subjects

Catherine Cornu

Publications and source records attributed to Catherine Cornu.

5 recordsLinked to original sources

French adaptation and preliminary validation of a questionnaire to evaluate understanding of informed consent documents in phase I biomedical research.

The content of informed consent documents (ICD) is a crucial element in the process of providing information to participants in biomedical research. Clear comprehension of the information, i.e. the ability to understand its meaning and its consequences, is of utmost importance. The objective of this study was to describe the different steps in the French adaptation and preliminary validation of the Qualité de Compréhension des Formulaires d'information et de consentement (QCFic) questionnaire (http://www.lyon.inserm.fr/cic-grenoble) based on the American Quality of Informed Consent (QuIC) questionnaire. Adaptation and preliminary validation of the QuIC for use in France was composed of five principal steps: translation, scientific validation, lexical validation, edition of gold-standard answers and a pilot study. Each stage was conducted by independent groups of experts, under the coordination of the study board. Thirteen questions were added and one was suppressed. Two steps were required for the scientific validation and for lexical validation, 21 modifications were proposed. Relative to gold-standard answers, the three experts gave the same answer for 24 questions and for nine other questions, two of the three gave identical answers, which were validated by the study board. Results of a pilot study showed a global QCFic score of 88.99 (84.13-90.92) and no specific commentary was made about the content of the questions, so no more modification needed to be made. A preliminary validated French questionnaire, the QCFic, is now available to evaluate the quality of an informed consent document in phase I clinical trials. It is quick and easy to use.

Adult↗

[Hormonal treatment for menopause and arterial risk].

Is hormonal atmosphere before menopause the cause of the lower risk of coronary heart disease in women? Big clinical trials do not validate this hypothesis, however simple and attractive: in 5 primary or secondary prevention trials, estrogens alone or in association with progestatives to near 32000 women after menopause, do not leave hope for a significant reduction of coronary risk, and show in contrast an 30% increase of stroke risk. These results highlight the crucial importance of clinical trials to validate therapeutic models. The remaining hypotheses on the nature of hormonal treatments and the administration route must follow the same validation process. The prescription of hormonal treatment for menopause illustrates the importance of informed decision including individualised estimate of the risk to benefit ratio.

Aged↗

Impact of French 'Comités de Protection des Personnes' on the readability of informed consent documents (ICD) in biomedical research: more information, but not better information.

Information is the keystone to the participation of subjects in biomedical research. Clear comprehension of the informed consent documents (ICDs) is primordial and a necessary requirement is that they are readable. While submission of a protocol to a French 'Comités de Protection des Personnes' (CPP) is a mandatory step with regard to the French legislation on biomedical research, no published data are available concerning its influence on ICDs readability. The aim of our study was to determine the impact of French CPP on the readability of ICDs, using lexico-syntactic readability indexes and ICDs from four clinical research centres and one clinical research unit. Twenty-five ICDs were analysed. The Flesch score was not modified after CPP review, while the Cordial score was significantly lower [from 4 (1-14) to 1 (1-13), P = 0.014]. The information was longer and more complex following CPP review. No protocol characteristics had any impact on the variation before and after review for either the Flesch or the Cordial indexes, nor on the number of syllables per word. Changes in the total number of words before and after review varied considerably between study centre, supporting heterogeneity of CPP review. Since August 2004, French CPP have to study the intelligibility of ICDs in addition to the scientific and ethic aspects of a research. We show that their current reviews do not increase the readability, while increasing the length of ICDs.

France↗

[Preventing dependency in elderly persons: randomized study in the community].

The number of elderly people aged > 85 years will double by the year 2020. Helping the elderly to live independently at home is a major challenge for society. Physical exercise and protein energy intake might both be effective in preventing dependency. This paper describes the organisation of an ongoing study aimed at evaluating the preventive effect of such measures, involving 102 elderly persons randomised into two groups, one receiving preventive measures but not the other. The study organisation was based on representatives and selected workers from associations involved in home assistance for elderly. Their role consisted in recruiting persons for participation in the trial, encouraging them to perform exercises and take dietary supplements, and notifying the research team of all health-related events. This organisation has reached its objectives, even though the supervision of the domestic workers needs to be improved. This network, comprising stable workers (14 years of work experience on average in this study) offers the potential for future research in the community to evaluate preventive measures.

Activities of Daily Living↗