Essential Concepts in Clinical Research: Randomised Controlled Trials and Observational Epidemiology

This practical guide speaks to two audiences: those who read and those who conduct research. Clinicians are medical detectives by training. For each patient, they assemble clinical clues to establish causes of signs and symptoms. The task involves both clinical acumen and knowledge of medical research. This book helps guide clinicians through this detective work, by enabling them to make sense of research and to review medical literature critically. It will also be invaluable to researchers who conduct clinical research, particularly randomized controlled trials. Building on previously published, peer-reviewed articles from The Lancet, this handbook is essential for busy clinicians and active researchers interested in research methods. INDICE: Introduction 1. An overview of clinical research: the lay of the land Observational studies 2. Descriptive studies: what they can and cannot do 3. Bias and causal associations in observational research 4. Cohort studies: marching towards outcomes 5. Case-control studies: research in reverse 6. Finding controls for case-control studies: compared to what? 7. Limitations of observational epidemiology Screening tests 8. Uses and abuses of screening tests 9. Refining clinical diagnosis with likelihood ratios Randomized controlled trials 10. Boosting participant recruitment in trials 11. Sample size calculations in randomized trials: mandatory and mystical 12. Generation of allocation sequences in randomized trials: chance not choice 13. Generation of allocation sequences in non-double-blinded randomized trials: guarding against guessing 14. Allocation concealment in randomized trials: defending against deciphering 15. Exclusions and losses in randomized trials: sample size slippages 16. Blinding in randomized trials: hiding who got what 17. Implementing treatment blinding in randomized trials 18. Surrogate endpoints and composite outcomes: shortcuts to unknown destinations 19. Multiplicity in randomized trials I: endpoints and treatments 20. Multiplicity in randomized trials II: subgroup and interim analyses 21. Conducting randomized trials as part of a prospective meta-analysis Publishing 22. Reporting studies in medical journals: CONSORT and other guidelines

• ISBN: 978-0-7020-7394-6
• Editorial: Elsevier
• Encuadernacion: Rústica
• Páginas: 272
• Fecha Publicación: 01/10/2018
• Nº Volúmenes: 1
• Idioma: Inglés