Critical appraisal
When critically appraising a study then consider:
- what is the research question - for most studies there should be a single sentence describing why the study was done and what hypothesis the authors were testing
- the type of study design used
- the study population investigated
- comparator drugs and doses studied
- sample size and power used in the study
- primary versus secondary endpoints and subgroup analysis
- duration of the study
- study follow-up
- is there a sponsorship or publication bias
- other considerations
- intention to treat analysis
- what p-values are used
- what confidence intervals are used
- comparing statistical and clinical significance of results
- analysis of results e.g absolute risks, relative risks, odds ratios, hazard ratios, numbers needed to treat, numbers needed to harm, Kaplan-Meier survival curves, simple statistical test
These points are expanded upon in the linked items below.
Related pages
- Type of study used
- Study population
- Comparator drugs in statistical studies
- Sample size and power of study
- Primary versus secondary endpoints
- Duration of study
- Study follow-up
- Is there sponsorship or publication bias
- Statistical versus clinical significance
- Intention to treat analysis
- P value
- Confidence interval (CI)
- Number needed to treat (NNT)
- Relative risk ( RR )
- NNH (number needed to harm)
- Kaplan - Meier survival curve
- Simple statistical test - to check difference between two treatments
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