• Jamilla A Hussain, Ian R White, Miriam J Johnson, Anthony Byrne, Nancy J Preston, Andy Haines, Kathy Seddon, and Tim J Peters.
• Wolfson Palliative Care Research Centre, University of Hull, Hull, UK.
• Palliat Med. 2022 Jan 1; 36 (1): 59-70.

BackgroundMissing data can introduce bias and reduce the power, precision and generalisability of study findings. Guidelines on how to address missing data are limited in scope and detail, and poorly implemented.AimTo develop guidelines on how best to (i) reduce, (ii) handle and (iii) report missing data in palliative care clinical trials.DesignModified nominal group technique.Setting/ParticipantsPatient and public research partners, palliative care clinicians, trialists, methodologists and statisticians attended a 1-day workshop, following which a multi-stakeholder development group drafted the guidelines.ResultsSeven main recommendations for reducing missing data, nine for handling missing data and twelve for reporting missing data were developed. The top five recommendations were: (i) train all research staff on missing data, (ii) prepare for missing data at the trial design stage, (iii) address missing data in the statistical analysis plan, (iv) collect the reasons for missing data and (v) report descriptive statistics comparing the baseline characteristics of those with missing and observed data. Reducing missing data, preparing for missing data and understanding the reasons for missing data were greater priorities for stakeholders than how to deal with missing data once they had occurred.ConclusionComprehensive guidelines on how to address missing data were developed by stakeholders involved in palliative care trials. Implementation of the guidelines will require endorsement of research funders and research journals.

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