title: The logic of equivalence testing and its use in laboratory medicine.
abstract: Hypothesis testing is a methodological paradigm widely popularized outside the field of pure statistics, and nowadays more or less familiar to the largest part of biomedical researchers. Conversely, the equivalence testing is still somehow obscure and misunderstood, although it represents a conceptual mainstay for some biomedical fields like pharmacology. In order to appreciate the way it could suit laboratory medicine, it is necessary to understand the philosophy behind it, and in turn how it stemmed and differentiated along the history of classical hypothesis testing. Here we present the framework of equivalence testing, the various tests used to assess equivalence and discuss their applicability to laboratory medicine research and issues.
authors.affiliation: Department of Human Physiology and Pharmacology, University of Rome Sapienza, Rome, Italy; Laboratory Medicine Department, "Tor Vergata" University Hospital, Rome, Italy.
authors.forename: Cristiano
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Ialongo
mesh_terms: D035843:Biomedical Research / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D056808:Biostatistics; D006801:Humans; D015233:Models, Statistical; D012107:Research Design
keywords: biostatistics; methodological studies; statistical data analysis