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  • Published on: 27 July 2005
    ... but they also present an opportunity to learn more

    When RCTs are consistent across a variety of populations and settings, we should feel more secure about the applicability of the intervention. If it works in low risk and high risk, young and old, East and West, it will probably work in my patient. However, as Puliyel and Sreenivas point out, RCTs don't always agree, and sometimes diverge widely. When that happens, we would like to know why. It could be any of the PI...

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    Conflict of Interest:
    None declared.
  • Published on: 27 July 2005
    Meta-analysis can be statistically misleading
    • Jacob M. Puliyel, Consultant Pediatrician
    • Other Contributors:
      • Vishnubhatla Sreenivas

    Dear Editor,

    In response to the Editor's invitation calling for short items on EBM related issues, we would like you to consider this statistical problem for possible publication.

    The double-blind Randomised Controlled Trial (RCT) is the basis of good evidence based medicine because it eliminates problems of bias and confounding. However systematic reviews show different RCTs arriving at diametrically op...

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    Conflict of Interest:
    None declared.