title: [Basic concepts in epidemiology and statistics for reading controlled clinical trials].
abstract: The authors present the basic concepts in epidemiology and statistics needed for understanding properly the design and results of controlled clinical trials. Through a set of examples, the concepts of measures of association and effect, statistical significance tests, p-value, confidence interval and statistical power are presented and common their misinterpretations are discussed.
authors.affiliation: Departamento de Epidemiologia e Métodos Quantitativos em Saúde, Escola Nacional de Saúde Pública. evandro@ensp.fiocruz.br
authors.forename: Evandro Silva Freire
authors.initials: ES
authors.lastname: Coutinho
authors.forename: Geraldo Marcelo da
authors.initials: GM
authors.lastname: Cunha
mesh_terms: D018849:Controlled Clinical Trials as Topic / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D003627:Data Interpretation, Statistical; D006801:Humans; D011897:Random Allocation; D016032:Randomized Controlled Trials as Topic / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D012306:Risk