Fiction And Fantasy In Medical
Research: The Large Scale Randomised Trial - by James
Penston
| ISBN:
0954463617 |
| Title:
Fiction And Fantasy In Medical
Research: The Large Scale Randomised Trial |
|
Author: James Penston |
| Publication
Date: 20/07/2003 |
| Language:
English |
|
|
| Description: Fiction
and Fantasy in Medical Research: The Large-Scale
Randomised Trial Every day, millions of patients around
the world take medication based on the results of
large-scale randomised trials. This method of testing
the efficacy of new drugs is widely accepted as the gold
standard of medical research. But is this accolade
deserved? Fiction and Fantasy in Medical Research
subjects the large-scale randomised trial to scrutiny
and finds it to be seriously flawed. The best that may
be said for these studies is that they merely
demonstrate a trivial benefit to patients. But, given
the lack of any sound foundation for the methodology,
even such modest claims have to be questioned. On the
basis of the results of these studies, more than 95% of
patients receiving long-term treatment with lipid
lowering drugs obtain no benefit whatsoever; of every
£1
million pounds spent on these drugs, more than £950,000
is wasted. If, as is argued, the methodology is flawed,
then these estimates exaggerate the possible benefits of
treatment. Yet, the drugs continue to be widely
prescribed, exposing patients over long periods of time
to the risk of side-effects. This critical appraisal of
the large-scale randomised trial raises fundamental
issues. How is it that a flawed methodology is so
readily embraced by all involved in the delivery of
health care? To what extent are those with a vested
interest able to influence the outcome of these studies?
And what are the ethical implications of treating
patients on the basis of such dubious data? The answers
to these and many other questions make uncomfortable
reading for the advocates of the large-scale randomised
trial currently involved in clinical research. |
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