title: Debate: Are surrogate end-point studies worth the effort?
abstract: Surrogate end-points of cardiovascular disease can provide useful information in cross-sectional, prospective and interventional studies. They provide information on association with risk factors, natural history and factors associated with disease progression. Because every participant can reach an end-point, sufficient power can be attained with much smaller numbers of subjects in surrogate end-point studies than in studies that use clinical endpoints, so that the costs are likely to be substantially less. Measures of carotid intima-media thickness (IMT) by B-mode ultrasonography and of coronary calcification by electron beam computed tomography (EBCT) appear to be the most promising surrogate end-points.
authors.affiliation: St Mary's Hospital, London, UK.
authors.forename: Jonathan
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Valabhji
authors.forename: Robert S
authors.initials: RS
authors.lastname: Elkeles