What is the current recruitment status and completion date listed for NCT05318469 on ClinicalTrials.gov?
Executive summary
ClinicalTrials.gov uses a structured “Overall Recruitment Status” field and explicit completion-date fields to indicate whether a trial is recruiting and when it ended; those data are expected to be kept current by the responsible party with specific timelines for updates (30 days for status/date changes, annual verification) [1] [2] [3]. The sources supplied for this query do not include the record for NCT05318469, so the current recruitment status and listed completion date for that specific NCT identifier cannot be determined from the provided reporting; the public ClinicalTrials.gov record must be consulted for the definitive values [4].
1. ClinicalTrials.gov records are the authoritative public record but depend on responsible parties to keep them current
ClinicalTrials.gov publishes structured trial records including an Overall Recruitment Status and completion-date fields—“Primary Completion Date” and “Study Completion Date”—which indicate the date the final participant was examined for primary outcome data and the date data collection ended for all outcomes, respectively [1] [5]. Responsible parties are required to update recruitment status and completion dates within 30 days of a change and to review records at least annually, creating an expectation of currency but also a dependency on those parties to act [2] [3] [6].
2. Definitions matter: what recruitment statuses and completion dates actually mean on the site
ClinicalTrials.gov defines discrete recruitment statuses—examples include “Active, not recruiting” (participants still receiving intervention/exam but not enrolling new participants), “Recruiting,” “Completed,” “Suspended,” “Terminated,” and “Withdrawn”—and provides precise language for what “completed” means (last participant’s last visit has occurred) and what “active, not recruiting” entails (ongoing interventions/exams but no new enrollment) [1] [7]. The registry also distinguishes “estimated” dates entered at registration from “actual” dates that should replace them once the milestone has occurred [1] [5].
3. Records can be outdated; cross‑checks are often necessary
Independent analyses have repeatedly found discrepancies and delays between actual trial status and what is listed on ClinicalTrials.gov: a cross‑sectional analysis found registry status information was often outdated or incorrect, with a median delay of 141 days between actual completion and the registry update for concluded trials and roughly 31% of trials either incorrectly listed or updated more than a year late [8]. That evidence establishes why consulting the live ClinicalTrials.gov record is the only way to answer a question about a specific NCT number with confidence, and why secondary reporting that cites an NCT should be cross‑verified against the registry entry [8].
4. Institutional guidance emphasizes prompt updating and clarifies permissible registration timing
Academic and institutional guidance repeatedly reminds investigators that a study can be registered at any time but recruitment status should reflect IRB and enrollment realities (for example a study may be registered as “Not yet recruiting” until IRB approval is obtained) and that updates to key fields—recruitment status and completion dates—must follow the 30‑day rule to avoid noncompliance [9] [10] [3]. These operational rules are relevant because even when an NCT exists, the date shown on the public page may be “estimated” or stale if the responsible party has not yet posted an actual completion date [5].
5. Reporting limitation and what must be done to get the concrete answer
None of the provided source materials contains or reproduces the ClinicalTrials.gov entry for NCT05318469; the materials are general documentation, FAQs, institutional policies, and a methodological critique of registry accuracy, so they do not allow extraction of the recruitment status or completion date for that specific NCT identifier [4] [1] [8]. Therefore the only way to state with certainty the current recruitment status and the completion date listed for NCT05318469 is to view its live record on ClinicalTrials.gov or to obtain an exported snapshot of that NCT record; absent that, any specific status/date assertion would be beyond the supplied reporting and cannot be responsibly made here [4] [2].