title: Bias in treatment trials.
abstract: Rigorous treatment trials exhibit a number of key features to guard against bias. Randomization, blinding (of patients, care staff and assessors), full follow-up on all patients, and 'intention-to-treat' analyses all contribute to removing bias so that any true treatment effect can be revealed. This article outlines the rationale behind these features and advises how bias in treatment trials can be assessed.
authors.affiliation: Department of Management, University of St Andrews, Fife.
authors.forename: H T
authors.initials: HT
authors.lastname: Davies
mesh_terms: D015982:Bias; D002986:Clinical Trials as Topic / Q000379:methods*; D004311:Double-Blind Method; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006801:Humans; D018579:Patient Selection; D011897:Random Allocation; D016037:Single-Blind Method; D013810:Therapeutic Equivalency; D016896:Treatment Outcome