Experimental designs for small randomised clinical trials: an algorithm for choice. - Inria - Institut national de recherche en sciences et technologies du numérique Accéder directement au contenu
Article Dans Une Revue Orphanet Journal of Rare Diseases Année : 2013

Experimental designs for small randomised clinical trials: an algorithm for choice.

Roland Fisch
  • Fonction : Auteur
  • PersonId : 940702
Corinne Alberti
Renzo Guerrini
  • Fonction : Auteur
  • PersonId : 871024
Anna Rosati
  • Fonction : Auteur
  • PersonId : 940703
Harm Tiddens
  • Fonction : Auteur
  • PersonId : 940705
Daan Caudri
  • Fonction : Auteur
  • PersonId : 940707

Résumé

BACKGROUND: Small clinical trials are necessary when there are difficulties in recruiting enough patients for conventional frequentist statistical analyses to provide an appropriate answer. These trials are often necessary for the study of rare diseases as well as specific study populations e.g. children. It has been estimated that there are between 6,000 and 8,000 rare diseases that cover a broad range of diseases and patients. In the European Union these diseases affect up to 30 million people, with about 50% of those affected being children. Therapies for treating these rare diseases need their efficacy and safety evaluated but due to the small number of potential trial participants, a standard randomised controlled trial is often not feasible. There are a number of alternative trial designs to the usual parallel group design, each of which offers specific advantages, but they also have specific limitations. Thus the choice of the most appropriate design is not simple. METHODS: PubMed was searched to identify publications about the characteristics of different trial designs that can be used in randomised, comparative small clinical trials. In addition, the contents tables from 11 journals were hand-searched. An algorithm was developed using decision nodes based on the characteristics of the identified trial designs. RESULTS: We identified 75 publications that reported the characteristics of 12 randomised, comparative trial designs that can be used in for the evaluation of therapies in orphan diseases. The main characteristics and the advantages and limitations of these designs were summarised and used to develop an algorithm that may be used to help select an appropriate design for a given clinical situation. We used examples from publications of given disease-treatment-outcome situations, in which the investigators had used a particular trial design, to illustrate the use of the algorithm for the identification of possible alternative designs. CONCLUSIONS: The algorithm that we propose could be a useful tool for the choice of an appropriate trial design in the development of orphan drugs for a given disease-treatment-outcome situation.

Domaines

Génétique
Fichier principal
Vignette du fichier
1750-1172-8-48.pdf (546.28 Ko) Télécharger le fichier
1750-1172-8-48.xml (102.29 Ko) Télécharger le fichier
Origine : Fichiers éditeurs autorisés sur une archive ouverte
Format : Autre

Dates et versions

inserm-00818031 , version 1 (25-04-2013)

Identifiants

Citer

Catherine Cornu, Behrouz Kassai, Roland Fisch, Catherine Chiron, Corinne Alberti, et al.. Experimental designs for small randomised clinical trials: an algorithm for choice.. Orphanet Journal of Rare Diseases, 2013, 8 (1), pp.48. ⟨10.1186/1750-1172-8-48⟩. ⟨inserm-00818031⟩
390 Consultations
546 Téléchargements

Altmetric

Partager

Gmail Facebook X LinkedIn More