Early stopping of prevention trials when multiple outcomes are of interest: a discussion.
In large prevention and screening trials, we want to answer multiple questions simultaneously. When monitoring prevention trials with multiple disease outcomes, composite measures may be useful, such as a count of important events, or a comparison of expected mortality. There are advantages to investigating multiple interventions in the same prevention or screening trial, using all-versus-none, factorial, or reciprocal control designs. In these situations it may be important to answer some questions early while others are still being investigated.
Green
S B
SB
National Cancer Institute, Bethesda, Maryland 20892.
Freedman
L S
LS
D015982:Bias; D002986:Clinical Trials as Topic / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D003627:Data Interpretation, Statistical; D006801:Humans; D011315:Preventive Medicine / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D016032:Randomized Controlled Trials as Topic / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D016019:Survival Analysis; D016896:Treatment Outcome