Reflections on Randomized Control Trials

Blindness in Randomized Controlled Trials

In combination with randomization, blinding or masking is an important factor in randomized controlled trials (RCTs), particularly in trials that assess therapeutic effects. Here an attempt is made to explain blindness and why it is important. In clinical trials, blinding is defined as the condition imposed on a study in which study participants, health care providers and assessors collecting o...

Bridging case-control studies and randomized trials

Randomized trials and observational studies, such as case-control studies, are often seen as opposing approaches. However, in many instances results obtained by different designs may complement each other. For instance, case-control studies on aetiology of disease may help to give the direction of future trials. In this commentary, the author discusses the purpose of randomization and observati...

Reflections on Global Forum on Leprosy Control.

At the time of publishing the Global Strategy to Further Reduce the Leprosy Burden, it was envisaged that more detailed operational guidelines would be published to ‘enable countries to develop their own country-specific strategies and plans of action’. The plan was turned into reality (albeit later than anticipated) through a Global Forum on Leprosy Control that met in the University of Aberde...

Clinical trials of classical homeopathy: reflections on appropriate research designs.

The growing popularity of complementary medicine has been accompanied by a call for controlled clinical studies to examine the efficacy and validity of its various methods. The difficulties encountered in applying the evaluation methods of conventional medicine to complementary medicine are the result of the different paradigms underlying these two methods of medicine, and the differences in th...

Reflections on the 50th anniversary of the Nuremberg doctors' trials.