Background: Data from randomized trials evaluating the effectiveness of tuberculosis (TB) preventive treatment for contacts of multidrug-resistant (MDR)-TB are lacking. Two recently published randomized trials that did not achieve statistical significance provide the opportunity for a meta-analysis.
Methods: We conducted combined analyses of two phase 3 trials of levofloxacin MDR-TB preventive treatment - Levofloxacin for the Prevention of Multidrug-Resistant Tuberculosis (VQUIN) trial and the Levofloxacin preventive treatment in children exposed to MDR-TB (TB-CHAMP) trial.
Deviation from the treatment strategy under investigation occurs in many clinical trials. We term this intervention deviation. Per-protocol analyses are widely adopted to estimate a hypothetical estimand without the occurrence of intervention deviation.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Older people admitted to hospital in an emergency often have prolonged inpatient stays that worsen their outcomes, increase health-care costs, and reduce bed availability. Growing evidence suggests that the biopsychosocial complexity of their problems, which include cognitive impairment, depression, anxiety, multiple medical illnesses, and care needs resulting from functional dependency, prolongs hospital stays by making medical treatment less efficient and the planning of post-discharge care more difficult. We aimed to assess the effects of enhancing older inpatients' care with Proactive Integrated Consultation-Liaison Psychiatry (PICLP) in The HOME Study.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe estimands framework outlined in ICH E9 (R1) describes the components needed to precisely define the effects to be estimated in clinical trials, which includes how post-baseline 'intercurrent' events (IEs) are to be handled. In late-stage clinical trials, it is common to handle IEs like 'treatment discontinuation' using the treatment policy strategy and target the treatment effect on outcomes regardless of treatment discontinuation. For continuous repeated measures, this type of effect is often estimated using all observed data before and after discontinuation using either a mixed model for repeated measures (MMRM) or multiple imputation (MI) to handle any missing data.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Risk prediction models are routinely used to assist in clinical decision making. A small sample size for model development can compromise model performance when the model is applied to new patients. For binary outcomes, the calibration slope (CS) and the mean absolute prediction error (MAPE) are two key measures on which sample size calculations for the development of risk models have been based.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFIn clinical settings with no commonly accepted standard-of-care, multiple treatment regimens are potentially useful, but some treatments may not be appropriate for some patients. A personalized randomized controlled trial (PRACTical) design has been proposed for this setting. For a network of treatments, each patient is randomized only among treatments which are appropriate for them.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFNon-inferiority trials compare the efficacy of a new treatment with an existing one where the new treatment is expected to have broadly similar efficacy to the existing treatment, but where other benefits might make the new treatment desirable. These trials might aim to demonstrate that a new treatment is either an alternative to, or a replacement for, the current treatment. In this article, how treatment comparisons can be based only on efficacy, or on both efficacy and other benefits, is explained, and guidance on how to choose the correct objective for a trial is given.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFTargeted maximum likelihood estimation (TMLE) is increasingly used for doubly robust causal inference, but how missing data should be handled when using TMLE with data-adaptive approaches is unclear. Based on data (1992-1998) from the Victorian Adolescent Health Cohort Study, we conducted a simulation study to evaluate 8 missing-data methods in this context: complete-case analysis, extended TMLE incorporating an outcome-missingness model, the missing covariate missing indicator method, and 5 multiple imputation (MI) approaches using parametric or machine-learning models. We considered 6 scenarios that varied in terms of exposure/outcome generation models (presence of confounder-confounder interactions) and missingness mechanisms (whether outcome influenced missingness in other variables and presence of interaction/nonlinear terms in missingness models).
View Article and Find Full Text PDFFrequent use of methylchloroisothiazolinone/methylisothiazolinone (MCI/MI) and MI in cosmetic products has been the main cause of widespread sensitization and allergic contact dermatitis to these preservatives (biocides). Their use in non-cosmetic products is also an important source of sensitization. Less is known about sensitization rates and use of benzisothiazolinone (BIT), octylisothiazolinone (OIT), and dichlorooctylisothiazolinone (DCOIT), which have never been permitted in cosmetic products in Europe.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFMultiple imputation (MI) is a popular method for handling missing data. Auxiliary variables can be added to the imputation model(s) to improve MI estimates. However, the choice of which auxiliary variables to include is not always straightforward.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFIntroduction: Network meta-analyses (NMAs) have gained popularity and grown in number due to their ability to provide estimates of the comparative effectiveness of multiple treatments for the same condition. The aim of this study is to conduct a methodological review to compile a preliminary list of concepts related to bias in NMAs.
Methods And Analysis: We included papers that present items related to bias, reporting or methodological quality, papers assessing the quality of NMAs, or method papers.
Contact Dermatitis
February 2024
Background: For certain conditions, treatments aim to lessen deterioration over time. A trial outcome could be change in a continuous measure, analysed using a random slopes model with a different slope in each treatment group. A sample size for a trial with a particular schedule of visits (e.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Overall survival is the "gold standard" endpoint in cancer clinical trials. It plays a key role in determining the clinical- and cost-effectiveness of a new intervention and whether it is recommended for use in standard of care. The assessment of overall survival usually requires trial participants to be followed up for a long period of time.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: A 2×2 factorial design evaluates two interventions (A versus control and B versus control) by randomising to control, A-only, B-only or both A and B together. Extended factorial designs are also possible (e.g.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFIntroduction: Mindfulness-based programmes (MBPs) are widely used to prevent mental ill-health that is becoming the leading global cause of morbidity. Evidence suggests beneficial average effects but wide variability. We aimed to confirm the effect of MBPs on psychological distress, and to understand whether and how baseline distress, gender, age, education, and dispositional mindfulness modify the effect of MBPs on distress among adults in non-clinical settings.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFSimulation studies are powerful tools in epidemiology and biostatistics, but they can be hard to conduct successfully. Sometimes unexpected results are obtained. We offer advice on how to check a simulation study when this occurs, and how to design and conduct the study to give results that are easier to check.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFAm J Orthod Dentofacial Orthop
November 2022
For simulation studies that evaluate methods of handling missing data, we argue that generating partially observed data by fixing the complete data and repeatedly simulating the missingness indicators is a superficially attractive idea but only rarely appropriate to use.
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