Key definitions Flashcards

1
Q

Clinically-meaningful

A

Represents a meaningful advance in healthcare/ patient outcomes

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2
Q

Reliable

A

Results can be trusted, reproducible if trial is repeated

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3
Q

Internal validity

A

Observed differences can be correctly attributed to the intervention

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4
Q

External validity

A

Trial results can be generalized to the real-world population

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5
Q

Superiority trials

A

Test whether new drug is better than comparator e.g. placebo or current best treatment

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6
Q

Equivalence trials

A

Test whether a new drug is the same as an existing treatment

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7
Q

Clinical equivalence trials

A

Test whether clinical outcomes for a new drug are the same as for an existing treatment

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8
Q

Bioequivalence trials

A

Test whether pharmacokinetic parameters e.g. blood concentration or receptor occupancy for a new drug are the same as for an existing treatment

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9
Q

Non-inferiority trials

A

Test whether a new treatment is no worse than an existing treatment

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10
Q

Bias

A

Systematic distortion of the results of a clinical study away from the truth

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11
Q

Selection bias

A

Systematic differences in way subjects are enrolled or treatments allocated

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12
Q

Bias in study management

A

Treatment groups not handled equally (e.g. participants, samples, investigational medicinal product)

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13
Q

Observer ascertainment bias

A

Participants and/or investigators are influenced by knowledge of treatment assignment

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14
Q

Introduced by exclusions after randomisation

A

Missing data due to participant dropouts or lack of individual measurement

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15
Q

Publication bias

A

Positive trial outcomes more likely to be published than negative outcomes

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16
Q

Intention-to-treat analysis

A

Analysis includes all randomised participants, irrespective of what happened to them during the study

17
Q

Per-protocol analysis

A

Analysis includes only participants who completed the protocol fully

18
Q

Confounder

A

A parameter that is related to both the study treatment and the outcome, but is not caused by the treatment. Confounders can interfere with the ability of a trial to produce a true result and should be controlled for in study design by randomisation

19
Q

Randomisation

A

A process of allocating participants to study groups that gives everyone an equal chance of being allocated to any group

20
Q

Stratification

A

Randomisation within subgroups of key confounders

21
Q

Minimisation

A

Dynamic method of randomisation that assigns participants to treatment groups in an order that minimises overall imbalance between groups for a number of selected confounding factors

22
Q

Type 1 error

A

Rejecting the null hypothesis when it is true, false positive result
Designated as alpha, usually set at 0.05 (5%)

23
Q

Type 2 error

A

Failing to reject the null hypothesis when it is false, false negative result
Designated as beta, usually set at 20%

24
Q

Sample size

A

The number of people to be enrolled in a trial or study

25
Power
The ability of a study to find a significant result if one exists Calculated as 100-beta (if beta is 20%, power is 80%)
26
Sample
A set of observations from the population
27
Population
The complete set of possible observations
28
Multiplicity
Performing many statistical tests on one clinical trial - increases the risk of a type 1 error/false positive result
29
Risk of type 1 error
[1-(1-alpha)n], where n is the number of tests performed and alpha is the type 1 error rate
30
Repeated measurements
Measurements at multiple timepoints
31
Interim analysis
Analysis conducted during the trial for ethical or economic reasons - trial may be terminated early if significant differences in efficacy or safety are identified
32
Bonferroni correction
Reducing the alpha of statistical tests to reduce the risk of a false positive result - divide 0.05 by the number of tests to set the significance level for the subtests
33
Covariate
Baseline characteristic (e.g. age, sex) that accounts for some of the variance in an outcome measured in a clinical trial (e.g. age is associated with increased risk of mortality). May modify the effect of a new treatment (e.g. drug may work in younger but not older patients)