In the era of systematic reviews, does the size of an individual trial still matter?

被引：85
作者：
Guyatt, Gordon H. [1 ]
Mills, Edward J. [1 ]
Elbourne, Diana [2 ]
机构：
[1] McMaster Univ, Dept Clin Epidemiol & Biostat, Hamilton, ON, Canada
[2] London Sch Hyg & Trop Med, Med Stat Unit, London WC1, England
来源：
PLOS MEDICINE | 2008年 / 5卷 / 01期
关键词：
D O I：
10.1371/journal.pmed.0050004
中图分类号：
R5 [内科学];
学科分类号：
1002 ; 100201 ;
摘要：
Background to the debate: Systematic reviews that combine high-quality evidence from several trials are now widely considered to be at the top of the hierarchy of clinical evidence. Given the primacy of systematic reviews and the fact that individual clinical trials rarely provide definitive answers to a clinical research question - some commentators question whether the sample size calculation for an individual trial still matters. Others point out that small trials can still be potentially misleading.
引用
收藏
页码：3 / 5
页数：3
相关论文
共 12 条
  • [1] STATISTICS NOTES - ABSENCE OF EVIDENCE IS NOT EVIDENCE OF ABSENCE
    ALTMAN, DG
    BLAND, JM
    [J]. BRITISH MEDICAL JOURNAL, 1995, 311 (7003) : 485 - 485
  • [2] MEDICINE AND MATHEMATICS - STATISTICS AND ETHICS IN MEDICAL-RESEARCH .3. HOW LARGE A SAMPLE
    ALTMAN, DG
    [J]. BRITISH MEDICAL JOURNAL, 1980, 281 (6251) : 1336 - 1338
  • [3] Discussion sections in reports of controlled trials published in general medical journals - Islands in search of continents?
    Clarke, M
    Chalmers, I
    [J]. JAMA-JOURNAL OF THE AMERICAN MEDICAL ASSOCIATION, 1998, 280 (03): : 280 - 282
  • [4] Dickersin K., 1993, ONLINE J CURR CLIN T, pDoc No 50
  • [5] Discrepancies among megatrials
    Furukawa, TA
    Streiner, DL
    Hori, S
    [J]. JOURNAL OF CLINICAL EPIDEMIOLOGY, 2000, 53 (12) : 1193 - 1199
  • [6] A randomised, blinded, trial of clopidogrel versus aspirin in patients at risk of ischaemic events (CAPRIE)
    Gent, M
    Beaumont, D
    Blanchard, J
    Bousser, MG
    Coffman, J
    Easton, JD
    Hampton, JR
    Harker, LA
    Janzon, L
    Kusmierek, JJE
    Panak, E
    Roberts, RS
    Shannon, JS
    Sicurella, J
    Tognoni, G
    Topol, EJ
    Verstraete, M
    Warlow, C
    [J]. LANCET, 1996, 348 (9038) : 1329 - 1339
  • [7] The continuing unethical conduct of underpowered clinical trials
    Halpern, SD
    Karlawish, JHT
    Berlin, JA
    [J]. JAMA-JOURNAL OF THE AMERICAN MEDICAL ASSOCIATION, 2002, 288 (03): : 358 - 362
  • [8] Validity of composite end points in clinical trials
    Montori, VM
    Permanyer-Miralda, G
    Ferreira-González, I
    Busse, JW
    Pacheco-Huergo, V
    Bryant, D
    Alonso, J
    Akl, EA
    Domingo-Salvany, A
    Mills, E
    Wu, P
    Schünemann, HJ
    Jaeschke, R
    Guyatt, GH
    [J]. BMJ-BRITISH MEDICAL JOURNAL, 2005, 330 (7491): : 594 - 596
  • [9] Montori VM, 2005, JAMA-J AM MED ASSOC, V294, P2203, DOI 10.1001/jama.294.17.2203
  • [10] Size is everything -: large amounts of information are needed to overcome random effects in estimating direction and magnitude of treatment effects
    Moore, RA
    Gavaghan, D
    Tramèr, MR
    Collins, SL
    McQuay, HJ
    [J]. PAIN, 1998, 78 (03) : 209 - 216
12