Reporting Clinical Trial Results

Abstract

Letters1 July 1993Reporting Clinical Trial ResultsAndrew L. Avins, MD, MPHAndrew L. Avins, MD, MPHSan Francisco General Hospital; San Francisco, CA 94105Search for more papers by this authorAuthor, Article, and Disclosure Informationhttps://doi.org/10.7326/0003-4819-119-1-199307010-00025 SectionsAboutFull TextPDF ToolsAdd to favoritesDownload CitationsTrack CitationsPermissions ShareFacebookTwitterLinkedInRedditEmail TO THE EDITOR:The elegant study by Naylor and colleagues [1] is a valuable contribution to the debate over appropriate methods for reporting results. Several problems, however, complicate the rational incorporation of these findings into policy and clinical decision making.First, the short duration of most clinical trials may cause absolute differences to underestimate a potential true benefit. For example, suppose the intervention in the Helsinki Heart Study [2] entirely eliminated all coronary heart disease. This would have resulted in an absolute reduction of only 3.9% in the incidence of fatal and nonfatal myocardial infarctions, suggesting that this disease is ...