The statistical comparison of clinical trials.
Being able to compare clinical trials using statistically proven analyses is essential, but certain protocols must be followed if such a comparison is to be made. The difficulty of making meaningful statistical comparisons is illustrated in 5 clinical trials comparing atypical antipsychotics. Certain judgments can be made on the basis of internal and external validity, for example, but there are many other areas--effect size, for example--in which it is impossible to make any statistical comparisons across these trials because they were not conducted in a uniform fashion. In the final analysis, it is doubtful that the differences between atypical antipsychotics covered in these trials are greater than those due to chance.
Schooler
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Department of Psychiatry, Hillside Hospital, Glen Oaks, NY 11004, USA.
D014150:Antipsychotic Agents / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D002986:Clinical Trials as Topic / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D006801:Humans; D017063:Outcome Assessment, Health Care / Q000379:methods / Q000592:standards; D018579:Patient Selection; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012107:Research Design / Q000592:standards*; D012559:Schizophrenia / Q000188:drug therapy*; D016896:Treatment Outcome
D014150:Antipsychotic Agents