In the era of systematic reviews, does the size of an individual trial still matter.
Systematic reviews that combine high-quality evidence from several trials are now widely considered to be at the top of the hierarchy of clinical evidence. Given the primacy of systematic reviews-and the fact that individual clinical trials rarely provide definitive answers to a clinical research question-some commentators question whether the sample size calculation for an individual trial still matters. Others point out that small trials can still be potentially misleading.
Guyatt
Gordon H
GH
Department of Clinical Epidemiology and Biostatistics, McMaster University, Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. guyatt@mcmaster.ca
Mills
Edward J
EJ
Elbourne
Diana
D
D002986:Clinical Trials as Topic; D003627:Data Interpretation, Statistical; D006801:Humans; D012196:Review Literature as Topic; D018401:Sample Size