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Blog Archives: Nov 2004 - present
Special items: Ovarian Cancer and Us blog best viewed in Firefox
Abstract:
Systematic reviews of randomized trials that include measurements of
health-related quality of life potentially provide critical information
for patient and clinicians facing challenging health care decisions.
When, as is most often the case, individual randomized trials use
different measurement instruments for the same construct (such as
physical or emotional function), authors typically report differences
between intervention and control in standard deviation units (so-called
"standardized mean difference" or "effect size"). This approach has
statistical limitations (it is influenced by the heterogeneity of the
population) and is non-intuitive for decision makers. We suggest an
alternative approach: reporting results in minimal important difference
units (the smallest difference patients experience as important). This
approach provides a potential solution to both the statistical and
interpretational problems of existing methods.
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