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Clinical Trials and <i>P</i> Values

In Reply.— Here is the question: Are randomized trials so superior to other knowledge-generating techniques that we should not consider a fact to have been established unless it has been established by such a trial? If so, then the use of…

By John D. LantosJanuary 1, 19931 min readin PEDIATRICS

In Reply.— Here is the question: Are randomized trials so superior to other knowledge-generating techniques that we should not consider a fact to have been established unless it has been established by such a trial? If so, then the use of clinical interventions which have not been studied using randomized trials is wrong. if not, then we need to determine how such trials should be combined with other techniques, and how results of different techniques should be interpreted to lead to the best possible patient care, the incorporation of new therapeutic interventions into practice, and the timely discarding of techniques which are no longer sufficiently efficacious.

Originally published at PEDIATRICS · January 1, 1993.

About the author

John D. Lantos is a pediatrician and bioethicist writing on AI in medicine, neonatal intensive care, and end-of-life decisions. His essays appear in JAMA, JAMA Pediatrics, the Hastings Center Report, the New England Journal of Medicine, and Aeon. Read more about John.

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