Translating evidence into practice: eligibility criteria fail to eliminate clinically significant differences between real-world and study populations

Abstract

Randomized controlled trials (RCTs) are regarded as the most reputable source of evidence. In some studies, factors beyond the intervention itself may contribute to the measured effect, an occurrence known as heterogeneity of treatment effect (HTE). If the RCT population differs from the real-world population on factors that induce HTE, the trials effect will not replicate. The RCTs eligibility criteria should identify the sub-population in which its evidence will replicate. However, the extent to which the eligibility criteria identify the appropriate population is unknown, which raises conce

Abstract by Amelia Averitt; Chunhua Weng; Patrick Ryan; Adler Perotte, npj Digital Medicine (2020) — licensed CC BY 4.0.

Related failures