Brief Biography

Dr. Johnston has a PhD in Experimental Medicine from the University of Alberta, and has completed post-doctoral training in Evidence-Based Health Care at the University of Oxford and Clinical Epidemiology and Biostatistics at McMaster University.  His academic interests include the methodology of systematic overviews (meta-analysis, clinical practice guidelines), health status measurement and randomized trials. His work involves the application of these methods to a wide range of areas, with a particular interest in patient reported outcomes.
 

Research Interests

Methodology of systematic overviews (meta-analysis, clinical practice guidelines), health status measurement and randomized trials.

Research activities: 

• Optimal approaches to communicating the size of treatment effects for patient reported outcomes (pain and quality of life data)
• Minimal important difference (MID) estimates for patient reported outcomes
•  Patient-reported outcomes in rare diseases
• Quality assessment of clinical and public health practice guidelines
• Methodology of network meta-analysis and individual patient data meta-analysis
• Efficacy and safety of probiotics in hospitalized patients

External Funding

Canadian Institutes of Health Research
Canadian Agency of Drugs and Technology in Health
International Life Sciences Institute

Publications

Johnston BC, Ebrahim S, Carrasco-Labra A, Furukawa TA, Patrick DL, Crawford MW, Schunemann HJ, Guyatt GH, Nesrallah G. Minimally important difference estimates and methods: A protocol.  BMJ Open (2015, in-press)

Johnston BC, Kanters S, Bandayrel K, Wu P, Naji F, Seimenuik RA, Busse JW, Ball GD, Guyatt GH, Jansen JP, Thorlund K, Mills EJ.  Comparison of weight loss among named diet programs in overweight and obese adults: A network meta-analysis. JAMA 2014;312(9):923-933.

Ebrahim S, Johnston BC, Akl EA, Mustafa RA, Sun X, Walter SD, Heels-Ansdell D, Alonso-Coello P, Guyatt GH. Addressing continuous data measured with different instruments for participants excluded from trial analysis: a guide for systematic reviewers. J Clin Epidemiol. 2014 May;67(5):560-70.

Johnston BC, Patrick DL, Thorlund K, Busse JW, da Costa BR, Schünemann HJ, Guyatt GH. Patient-reported outcomes in meta-analyses -- Part 2: methods for improving interpretability for decision-makers. Health Qual Life Outcomes. 2013 Dec 21;11(1):211.

Johnston BC, Patrick DL, Busse JW, Schünemann HJ, Agarwal A, Guyatt GH. Patient-reported outcomes in meta-analyses -- Part 1: assessing risk of bias and combining outcomes. Health Qual Life Outcomes. 2013 Jul 1;11(1):109.

Johnston BC, Donen R, Pooni A, Pond J, Xie F, Giglia L, Kam A, Bhamber A, Bami K, Patel Y, Guyatt GH. Conceptual framework for health-related quality of life assessment in acute gastroenteritis. J Pediatr Gastroenterol Nutr. 2013 Mar;56(3):280-9.

Akl EA, Johnston BC, Alonso-Coello P, Neumann I, Ebrahim S, Briel M, Cook DJ, Guyatt GH. Addressing dichotomous data for participants excluded from trial analysis: a guide for systematic reviewers.  PLoS One 2013;8(2):e57132.

Johnston BC, Ma SS, Goldenberg JZ, Thorlund K, Vandvik PO, Loeb M, Guyatt GH.  Probiotics for the prevention of Clostridium difficile-associated diarrhea: a systematic review and meta-analysis. Ann Intern Med. 2012 Dec 18;157(12):878-88.

Johnston BC, Thorlund K, da Costa BR, Furukawa TA, Guyatt GH. New methods can  extend the use of minimal important difference units in meta-analyses of continuous outcome measures. J Clin Epidemiol. 2012 Aug;65(8):817-26.