Preferred reporting items for studies mapping onto preference- based outcome measures: the MAPS statement

The Author(s) 2015. This article is published with open access at Springerlink.com Background and aim ‘Mapping ’ onto generic preference-based outcome measures is increasingly being used as a means of generating health utilities for use within health economic evaluations. Despite publication of technical guides for the conduct of mapping research, guidance for the reporting of mapping studies is currently lacking. The MApping onto Preference-based measures reporting Stan-dards (MAPS) statement is a new checklist, which aims to promote complete and transparent reporting of mapping studies. Methods In the absence of previously published reporting checklists or reporting guidance documents, a de novo list of reporting items was created by a working group com-prised of six health economists and one Delphi methodol-ogist. A two-round, modified Delphi survey with representatives from academia, consultancy, health tech-nology assessment agencies and the biomedical journal editorial community was used to identify a list of essential reporting items from this larger list. Results From the initial de novo list of 29 candidate items, a set of 23 essential reporting items was developed. The items are presented numerically and categorised within six sections, namely (1) title and abstract; (2) introduction; (3) methods; (4) results; (5) discussion; and (6) other. The MAPS statement is best applied in conjunction with the accompanying MAPS explanation and elaboration document. Conclusions It is anticipated that the MAPS statement will improve the clarity, transparency and completeness of reporting of mapping studies. To facilitate dissemination and uptake, the MAPS statement is being co-published by seven health economics and quality of life journals, and broader endorsement is encouraged. The MAPS working group plans to assess the need for an update of the reporting checklist in 5 years ’ time