Marleine Azar | DEPRESSD Project

Name: Marleine Azar

Position: Team member

Biography:

Marleine is currently in her third year of medical school at the University of Montreal. Previously, she completed a BSc Honours Psychology and MSc Epidemiology at McGill University under the supervision of Brett Thombs. She completed an undergraduate thesis, focusing on outcome reporting and trial registration of randomized controlled trials of psychological interventions. Her summer undergraduate project aimed at assessing factors related to exercise habits in patients with scleroderma. Furthermore, she led a project which assessed journal registration policies and trial registration of clinical trials of non-regulated healthcare interventions. Her masters thesis focussed on characterising data sharing in individual patient data meta-analyses. Currently, she is participating in a living systematic review of mental health during Covid-19. In addition, she is a member of the Artificial Intelligence Ethical and Legal Working Group of the Canadian Association of Radiologists.

Awards (selected):

- Paper of the month, Lady Davis Institute for Medical Research, Jewish General Hospital. 2019

- Student Travel Award Support, Jewish General Hospital. 2017

- Fonds de recherche du Québec-Santé: Formation de maîtrise. 2016-2018

- Graduate Research Enhancement and Travel (GREAT) Award, McGill University. 2016

- Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR): Travel Awards - Institute Community Support. 2016.

- André Lussier Fellowship Travel Bursary, Laurentian Conference of Rheumatology. 2016

- Poster presentation award, Scleroderma Society of Canada. 2015.

- Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR): Fredrick Banting and Charles Best Canada Graduate

Scholarships Master’s Award. 2015-2016.

- Science Undergraduate Research Award (SURA), McGill University. 2015.

- Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada Undergraduate Student Research Award (NSERC URSA). 2014.

-Oral presentation award, Program for the Early Prevention of Psychosis (PEPP) Research Day. 2014.

Publication(s):

- Thombs BD, Bonardi O, Rice DB, et al. Curating evidence on mental health during COVID-19: A living systematic review [published online ahead of print, 2020 Apr 21]. J Psychosom Res. 2020;110113. doi:10.1016/j.jpsychores.2020.110113.

- Azar M, Benedetti A, Riehm KE, Imran M, Krishnan A, Chiovitti M et al. Trial Corresponding Author Country, Year, and Journal Impact Factor Associated with Data Contribution to IPDMAs. J Clin Epidemiol. 2020 Apr 13:S0895-4356(19)30625-0. doi: 10.1016/j.jclinepi.2020.03.026.

- McGrath S, Zhao X, Steele R, Thombs BD, Benedetti A, DEPRESsion Screening Data (DEPRESSD) Collaboration. Estimating the sample mean and standard deviation from commonly reported quantiles in meta-analysis. Stat Methods Med Res. 2020 Jan 30:962280219889080. doi: 10.1177/0962280219889080.

- Levis B, Benedetti A, Ioannidis JPA, Sun Y, Negeri Z, He C, et al. Patient Health Questionnaire-9 scores do not accurately estimate depression prevalence: individual participant data meta-analysis. J Clin Epidemiol.2020 Feb 24. pii: S0895-4356(19)30735-8. doi: 10.1016/j.jclinepi.2020.02.002.

- Wu Y, Levis B, Sun Y, Krishnan A, He C, Riehm KE, et al. Probability of major depression diagnostic classification based on the SCID, CIDI and MINI diagnostic interviews controlling for Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale - Depression subscale scores: An individual participant data meta-analysis of 73 primary studies. J Psychosom Res. 2020. Feb;129:109892. doi: 10.1016/j.jpsychores.2019.109892.

- Thombs BD, Levis AW, Azar M, Saadat N, Riehm KE, Sanchez TA, et al. Group sample sizes in nonregulated health care intervention trials described as randomized controlled trials were overly similar. J Clin Epidemiol. 2019 Dec 19;120:8-16. doi: 10.1016/j.jclinepi.2019.12.011.

- He C, Levis B, Riehm KE, Saadat N, Levis AW, Azar M et al. The Accuracy of the Patient Health Questionnaire-9 Algorithm for Screening to Detect Major Depression: An Individual Participant Data Meta-Analysis. Psychother Psychosom. 2020;89(1):25-37. doi: 10.1159/000502294.

- Levis B, McMillan D, Sun Y, He C, Rice DB, Krishnan A. Comparison of major depression diagnostic classification probability using the SCID, CIDI, and MINI diagnostic interviews among women in pregnancy or postpartum: An individual participant data meta-analysis. Int J Methods Psychiatr Res. 2019 Dec;28(4):e1803. doi: 10.1002/mpr.1803.

- Wu Y, Levis B, Riehm KE, Saadat N, Levis AW, Azar M. Equivalency of the diagnostic accuracy of the PHQ-8 and PHQ-9: a systematic review and individual participant data meta-analysis. Psychol Med. 2019 Jul 12:1-13. doi: 10.1017/S0033291719001314.

- Levis B, Benedetti A, Thombs BD; DEPRESsion Screening Data (DEPRESSD) Collaboration. Accuracy of Patient Health Questionnaire-9 (PHQ-9) for screening to detect major depression: individual participant data meta-analysis. BMJ. 2019. Apr 9;365:l1476. doi: 10.1136/bmj.l1476.

- Jaremko JL, Azar M, Bromwich R, Lum A, Alicia Cheong LH, Gibert M et al. Canadian Association of Radiologists White Paper on Ethical and Legal Issues Related to Artificial Intelligence in Radiology. Can Assoc Radiol J. 2019 May;70(2):107-118. doi: 10.1016/j.carj.2019.03.001.

- Azar M, Riehm KE, Saadat N, Sanchez T, Chiovitti M, Qi L et al. Evaluation of Journal Registration Policies and Prospective Registration of Randomized Clinical Trials of Nonregulated Health Care Interventions. JAMA Intern Med. 2019 Mar 11. doi: 10.1001/jamainternmed.2018.8009.

- Ishihara M, Harel D, Levis B, Levis A, Riehm K, Saadat N, Azar M et al. Shortening Self-report Mental Health Symptom Measures through Optimal Test Assembly Methods: Development and Validation of the Patient Health Questionnaire-Depression-4. Depress Anxiety. 2019 Jan;36(1):82-92. doi: 10.1002/da.22841.

- Levis B, Benedetti A, Riehm KE, Saadat N, Levis AW, Azar M, et al. Probability of major depression diagnostic classification using semi-structured vs. fully structured diagnostic interviews. BJ Psychiatry. 2018.

- Azar M, Rice DB, Kwakkenbos L, Carrier ME, Shrier I, Bartlett SJ, et al. Exercise Habits and Factors Associated with Exercise in Systemic Sclerosis: A Scleroderma Patient-centered Intervention Network (SPIN) Cohort Study. Disability and Rehabilitation. 2017.

- Azar M, Pruessner M, Baer L, Iyer S, Malla A, Lepage M. A One-Year Study on Negative and Depressive Symptom Prevalence in Ultra High Risk for Psychosis. Early Intervention in Psychiatry. 2016. doi: 10.1111/epib.12386.

- Thombs BD, Benedetti A, Kloda LA, Levis B, Azar M, Riehm KE, et al. The Diagnostic Accuracy of the Depression Subscale of the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS-D) for Detecting Major Depression: Protocol for a Systematic Review and Individual Patient Data Meta-analyses. BMJ Open. 2016;6(4):e011913. doi: 10.1136/bmjopen-2016-011913.

- Azar M, Riehm KE, McKay D, Thombs BD. Transparency of outcome reporting and trial registration of randomized controlled trials published in the Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology. PLoS ONE. 2015;10(11): e0142894. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0142894

- Thombs BD, Benedetti A, Kloda LA, Levis B, Riehm KE, Azar M et al. Diagnostic accuracy of the Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale (EPDS) for detecting major depression in pregnant and postnatal women: Protocol for a systematic review and individual patient data meta-analyses. BMJ Open. 2015;5:e009742 doi:10.1136/bmjopen-2015-009742.

- Riehm KE, Azar M, Thombs BD. Transparency of outcome reporting and trial registration of randomized controlled trials in top psychosomatic and behavioral health journals: A 5-year follow-up. Journal of Psychosomatic Research. 2015;79(1):1-12.

Oral Presentations (selected):

- Azar M, Benedetti A, Riehm KE, Imran M, Krishnan A, Chiovitti M, Sanchez T, Shrier I, Thombs BD. Characteristics of Meta-analyses and Included Trials Associated with Data Contribution to Individual Participant Data Meta-Analyses of Randomized Controlled Trials. Cochrane Colloquium. Toronto, Ontario, Canada. October 2020. (Peer-reviewed oral presentation)

- Azar M, Benedetti A, Shrier I, Chiovitti M, Sanchez T, Levis B, Thombs B. Trial and Meta-analysis Characteristics Associated with Data Contribution in Individual Patient Data Meta-Analyses of Randomized Controlled Trials. Preventing Overdiagnosis. Quebec City, Quebec, Canada. August 2017.

- Azar M, Riehm KE, Saadat N, Fedoruk C, Kimmelman J, Levis B, Levis AW, Rice DB, Kloda LA, Thombs BD. Transparency of Outcome Reporting and Trial Registration of Randomized Controlled Trials of Non-Regulated Health Interventions. Preventing Overdiagnosis 2016, Barcelona, Spain. September 2016.

- Azar M, Bodnar M, Malla A, Joober R, Lepage M. Determining the Prevalence of Persistent Negative Symptoms in Affective and Non-Affective Psychosis During the First 12 Months Following a First Episode Psychosis. 15th International Congress on Schizophrenia Research (ICOSR), Colorado Springs, Colorado, March 30, 2015.

- Azar, M., Pruessner, M., Baer, L. H., Iyer, S., Malla, A., & Lepage, M. A One-Year Study on Negative and Depressive Symptom Prevalence in Ultra High Risk for Psychosis. Presentation at the Program for the Early Prevention of Psychosis (PEPP) Research Day, Douglas Mental Health Institute, Montreal, Quebec, April 24 2014.

Poster presentations (selected):

- Azar M, Riehm KE, Saadat N, Sanchez T, Chiovitti M, Qi L, Rice DB, Levis B, Fedoruk C, Levis AW, Kloda LA, Kimmelman J, Benedetti A, Thombs B. Journal Policies and Registration of Randomized Controlled Trials of Non-Regulated Healthcare Interventions: A Cross-sectional Study. Global Evidence Summit (Cochrane Colloquium, Guidelines International Network, Campbell Collaboration, the International Society for Evidence-based Health Care, and the Joanna Briggs Institute). Cape Town, South Africa. September 2017.

- Azar M, Riehm KE, Saadat N, Sanchez T, Chiovitti M, Qi L, Rice DB, Levis B, Fedoruk C, Levis AW, Kloda LA, Kimmelman J, Benedetti A, Thombs B. Journal Policies and Registration of Randomized Controlled Trials of Non-Regulated Healthcare Interventions: A Cross-sectional Study. Society for Epidemiologic Research 50th Annual Meeting. Seattle, Washington, USA, June 2017.

- Azar M, Riehm KE, Saadat N, Sanchez T, Chiovitti M, Qi L, Rice DB, Levis B, Fedoruk C, Levis AW, Kloda LA, Kimmelman J, Benedetti A, Thombs B. Journal Policies and Registration of Randomized Controlled Trials of Non-Regulated Healthcare Interventions: A Cross-sectional Study. Lady Davis Institute for Medical Research (LDI) Research Retreat, Jewish General Hospital, McGill University. Montreal, Quebec, Canada, May 2017.

- Azar M, Riehm KE, Saadat N, Sanchez T, Chiovitti M, Qi L, Rice DB, Levis B, Fedoruk C, Levis AW, Kloda LA, Kimmelman J, Benedetti A, Thombs B. Journal Policies and Registration of Randomized Controlled Trials of Non-Regulated Healthcare Interventions: A Cross-sectional Study. 13th Annual Research Day of the Department of Epidemiology, Biostatistics and Occupational Health of McGill University, Montreal, Quebec, Canada, April 2017.

- Azar M, Rice DB, Kwakkenbos L, Carrier ME, Shrier I, Bartlett SJ, Hudson M, Mouthon L, Poiraudeau S, van den Ende CHM, Johnson SR, Rodriguez Reyna TS, Schouffoer AA, Welling J, Thombs BD, SPIN investigators. Exercise Habits and Factors Associated with Exercise in Systemic Sclerosis: A Scleroderma Patient-centered Intervention Network (SPIN) Cohort Study. 2016 American College of Rheumatology/Association of Rheumatology Health Professionals Annual Meeting, Washington, DC, USA, November 2016.

- Azar M, Riehm KE, McKay D, Thombs BD. Transparency of outcome reporting and trial registration of randomized controlled trials published in the Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology. 2016 Epidemiology Congress of the Americas, Miami, Florida, USA, June 2016.

- Azar M, Riehm KE, McKay D, Thombs BD. Transparency of outcome reporting and trial registration of randomized controlled trials published in the Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology. Lady Davis Institute for Medical Research (LDI) Research Retreat, Jewish General Hospital, McGill University. Montreal, Quebec, Canada, June 2016.

- Azar M, Rice D, Kwakkenbos L, Carrier M-E, Shrier I, Hudson M, Thombs BD, SPIN investigators. Exercise Habits and Associated Factors in Scleroderma: A Scleroderma Patient-centered Intervention Network (SPIN) Cohort Study. 47th Laurentian Conference of Rheumatology, Estérel, Quebec, Canada, May 2016.

- Azar M, Riehm KE, McKay D, Thombs BD. Transparency of outcome reporting and trial registration of randomized controlled trials published in the Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology. 12th Annual Research Day of the Department of Epidemiology, Biostatistics and Occupational Health of McGill University. Montreal, Quebec, Canada, April 2016.

- Azar M, Rice D, Kwakkenbos L, Carrier M-E, Shrier I, Hudson M, Thombs BD, SPIN investigators. Exercise Habits and Associated Factors in Scleroderma: A Scleroderma Patient-centered Intervention Network (SPIN) Cohort Study. 4th Systemic Sclerosis World Congress. Lisbon, Portugal, February 2016.

- Azar M, Rice D, Hudson M, Kwakkenbos L, Thombs BD, SPIN Investigators. Exercise Habits and its Associated Factors in Scleroderma. 2015 Scleroderma National Conference, Scleroderma Society of Canada. Hamilton, Ontario, Canada, September 2015.

- Azar M, Pruessner M, Baer L, Iyer S, Malla A, Lepage M. A One-Year Study on Negative and Depressive Symptom Prevalence in Ultra High Risk for Psychosis. Department of Psychology Undergraduate Research Day, McGill University. Montreal, Quebec, Canada, April 2014.

Expert Comments on Available Evidence

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