title: Statistics and medical experimentation.
abstract: Starting from a review of four major experimental areas in medicine (Polio, Coronary Surgery, Diabetes, Breast Cancer), some of the special statistical problems arising in the design and analysis of clinical experiments are reviewed, and the limitations of current formulations are emphasized. Particular attention is given to the ethical dilemma and an alternative formulation of the inference/decision problem is proposed.
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D026688:Bioethical Issues; D001943:Breast Neoplasms / Q000601:surgery; D002986:Clinical Trials as Topic; D001026:Coronary Artery Bypass; D003920:Diabetes Mellitus / Q000188:drug therapy; D004992:Ethics, Medical; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006801:Humans; D007328:Insulin / Q000627:therapeutic use; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010919:Placebos; D011051:Poliomyelitis; D011054:Poliovirus Vaccine, Inactivated; D012107:Research Design; D018570:Risk Assessment; D013223:Statistics as Topic; D036302:Therapeutic Human Experimentation; D013964:Thyroid Neoplasms / Q000517:prevention & control; D013974:Thyroxine / Q000627:therapeutic use; D014044:Tolbutamide / Q000627:therapeutic use
chemical_list: D007328:Insulin; D010919:Placebos; D011054:Poliovirus Vaccine, Inactivated; D014044:Tolbutamide; D013974:Thyroxine