How should the efficacy of novel treatments be assessed in survival trials?
Survival trials tend to have the results presented in relative terms, usually using the hazard ratio. When absolute treatment effects are presented this is often done in terms of the Number Needed to Treat concept. For many medical treatments this approach is biologically implausible and can be misleading. The mean survival time approach leading to the absolute treatment effect in terms of extra life years is rarely used. It is suggested that this approach has many advantages over the Number Needed to Treat approach and should be used to present the absolute treatment effect in survival trials.
Owen
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Department of Cardiology, Kent and Canterbury Hospital, Ethelbert Road, Canterbury, Kent CT1 3NG, UK. owenandrew444@hotmail.com
D002986:Clinical Trials as Topic; D003627:Data Interpretation, Statistical; D006801:Humans; D018401:Sample Size; D016019:Survival Analysis