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Randomized Controlled Trials
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Medical research answers many questions about health, illness, and treatment options. Evaluating new medicines
and treatments may involve research using randomized controlled trials. In such trials the participants who receive the treatment under study are assigned at random (by chance, like the flip of a coin). This is necessary to ensure that the outcomes are determined only by the treatment under study and not by other factors that could otherwise influence treatment assignment. Other participants who, by the randomization process, serve as controls receive a standard treatment or placebo treatment (a pill or procedure that does not include active ingredients). The November 2, 2005, issue of JAMA includes an article about randomized clinical trials.
CLINICAL TRIALS
Clinical trials are designed to answer a specific question about a treatment, usually the safety and efficacy (how well it works) of the treatment. Volunteers meeting specific criteria, including having the condition being studied, receive . . . [Full Text of this Article]
Janet M. Torpy, MD, Writer;
Cassio Lynm, MA, Illustrator;
Richard M. Glass, MD, Editor
RELATED ARTICLE
Randomized Trials Stopped Early for Benefit: A Systematic Review
Victor M. Montori, P. J. Devereaux, Neill K. J. Adhikari, Karen E. A. Burns, Christoph H. Eggert, Matthias Briel, Christina Lacchetti, Teresa W. Leung, Elizabeth Darling, Dianne M. Bryant, Heiner C. Bucher, Holger J. Schünemann, Maureen O. Meade, Deborah J. Cook, Patricia J. Erwin, Amit Sood, Richa Sood, Benjamin Lo, Carly A. Thompson, Qi Zhou, Edward Mills, and Gordon H. Guyatt
JAMA. 2005;294(17):2203-2209.
ABSTRACT
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