Appraising Intervention Studies: Some Basic Questions
When evaluating a paper reporting on an intervention study, here are a basic questions to consider:
- Is the study that the author(s) are reporting on a Randomized Clinical Trial (RCT)?
- Were patients randomly assigned to treatment groups?
- Was this randomization concealed from the clinicians in order to reduce bias?
- Did the members in each study group have a similar prognosis at the start of the trial?
- Was patient follow-up long enough and complete?
- Were all the patients analyzed within the group they were assigned?
- What is the magnitude of the treatment effect? (see the box below for information on how to calculate the treatment effect)
Reference:
Straus, S. (2011). Evidence-based medicine : How to practice and teach it. (4th ed. / Sharon E. Straus ... [et al.].. ed.). Edinburgh: Elsevier Churchill Livingstone.
