title: Outcome after general or regional anaesthesia in high-risk patients.
abstract: This review is a critical analysis of research design for studies of outcome comparing epidural anaesthesia and analgesia with general anaesthesia and alternative postoperative analgesia regimens. If important advances in knowledge are to be made, appropriately designed multicentre randomized controlled trials are essential. These trials must incorporate strict controls on patient entry, a comprehensive range of carefully defined and clinically significant morbidity endpoints and the previous determination of sample size through a proper analysis of statistical power.
authors.affiliation: Department of Public Health, University of Western Australia, Perth, Western Australia, Australia. rigg@enternet.com.au
authors.forename: J R
authors.initials: JR
authors.lastname: Rigg
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Jamrozik