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Assessing risk of bias in randomized controlled trials

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  11 April 2011

Marianna Purgato
Affiliation:
Department of Public Health and Community Medicine, Section of Psychiatry and Clinical Psychology, University of Verona (Italy)
Corrado Barbui
Affiliation:
Department of Public Health and Community Medicine, Section of Psychiatry and Clinical Psychology, University of Verona (Italy)
Andrea Cipriani*
Affiliation:
Department of Public Health and Community Medicine, Section of Psychiatry and Clinical Psychology, University of Verona (Italy)
*
Address for correspondence: Dr. A. Cipriani, Department of Public Health and Community Medicine, Section of Psychiatry and Clinical Psychology, University of Verona, Piazzale L.A. Scuro 10, 37134 Verona (Italy). Fax: +39–045–8027498 E-mail: andrea.cipriani@univr.it

Abstract

Even though randomised controlled trials are the design of choice for evaluating the efficacy of health care interventions, they are not immune to bias that may affect research process and validity of results. In the present paper we discussed how trial quality may be appraised considering both whether a clinical trial is reported in a comprehensive and complete way (consistently with what had been declared in the study protocol), and whether the characteristics of the trial itself are associated with risk of bias.

Type
ABC of Methodology
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2010

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References

REFERENCES

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