Accurate assessments of symptoms and diagnoses are essential for health research and clinical practice but face many challenges. The absence of a single error-free measure is currently addressed by assessment methods involving experts reviewing several sources of information to achieve a more accurate or best-estimate assessment. Three bodies of work spanning medicine, psychiatry, and psychology propose similar assessment methods: The Expert Panel, the Best-Estimate Diagnosis, and the Longitudinal Expert All Data (LEAD). However, the quality of such best-estimate assessments is typically very difficult to evaluate due to poor reporting of the assessment methods and when it is reported, the reporting quality varies substantially. Here we tackle this gap by developing reporting guidelines for such studies, using a four-stage approach: 1) drafting reporting standards accompanied by rationales and empirical evidence, which were further developed with a patient organization for depression, 2) incorporating expert feedback through a two-round Delphi procedure, 3) refining the guideline based on an expert consensus meeting, and 4) testing the guideline by i) having two researchers test it and ii) using it to examine the extent previously published articles report the standards. The last step also demonstrates the need for the guideline: 18 to 58% (Mean = 33%) of the standards were not reported across fifteen randomly selected studies. The LEADING guideline comprises 20 reporting standards related to four groups: The Longitudinal design; the Appropriate data; the Evaluation – experts, materials, and procedures; and the Validity group. We hope that the LEADING guideline will be useful in assisting researchers in planning, reporting, and evaluating research aiming to achieve best-estimate assessments.

中文翻译：

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领先指南。专家小组、最佳估计诊断和纵向专家全数据 (LEAD) 研究的报告标准

准确评估症状和诊断对于健康研究和临床实践至关重要，但面临许多挑战。目前，通过评估方法来解决缺乏单一无差错措施的问题，评估方法涉及专家审查多个信息来源，以实现更准确或最佳估计评估。涵盖医学、精神病学和心理学的三个工作机构提出了类似的评估方法：专家小组、最佳估计诊断和纵向专家所有数据 (LEAD)。然而，由于评估方法的报告质量较差，并且在报告时，报告质量差异很大，因此这种最佳估计评估的质量通常很难评估。在这里，我们通过为此类研究制定报告指南来解决这一差距，采用四阶段方法：1）起草报告标准并附上理由和经验证据，并与抑郁症患者组织进一步制定，2）通过两轮德尔菲程序，3）根据专家共识会议完善指南，4）通过以下方式测试指南：i）让两名研究人员对其进行测试，ii）使用它来检查先前发表的文章报告标准的程度。最后一步还表明了指南的必要性：在 15 项随机选择的研究中，有 18% 至 58%（平均值 = 33%）的标准未报告。领先指南包括 20 项报告标准，涉及四组：纵向设计；适当的数据；评估——专家、材料和程序；和有效性组。我们希望领先指南将有助于帮助研究人员规划、报告和评估旨在实现最佳评估的研究。