Clinical Trials: Discerning Hype From Substance

The interest in being able to interpret and report results in clinical trials as being favorable is pervasive throughout health care re-search. This important source of bias needs to be recognized, and approaches need to be implemented to effectively address it. The prespecified primary analyses of the primary and secondary end points of a clinical trial should be clearly specified when dissemi-nating results in press releases and journal publications. There should be a focus on these analyses when interpreting the results. A substantial risk for biased conclusions is produced by conducting exploratory analyses with an intention to establish that the benefit-to-risk profile of the experimental intervention is favorable, rather than to determine whether it is. In exploratory analyses, P values will be misleading when the actual sampling context is not pre-sented to allow for proper interpretation, and the effect sizes of outcomes having particularly favorable estimates are probably over-estimated because of “random high ” bias. Performing exploratory analyses should be viewed as generating hypotheses that usually require reassessment in prospectively conducted confirmatory trials. Awareness of these issues will meaningfully improve our ability to be guided by substance, not hype, in making evidence-based de-cisions about medical care. Ann Intern Med. 2010;153:400-406. www.annals.or