title: Monitoring accumulating data in a clinical trial.
abstract: A clinical trial is monitored for efficacy or safety; the variable of interest is death or a similarly serious event. The probability that one therapy has a greater mortality rate than the other is calculated ad libitum during the trial. Adjustments are made for differing patients' prognoses and for survival times.
authors.affiliation: School of Statistics, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis 55455.
authors.forename: D A
authors.initials: DA
authors.lastname: Berry
mesh_terms: D001699:Biometry; D002986:Clinical Trials as Topic / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D003627:Data Interpretation, Statistical; D006801:Humans; D009026:Mortality; D011336:Probability; D011379:Prognosis