Comparative attributes for the description of the relative efficacy of therapeutic agents: general concepts and definitions, and application to the American Dental Association guidelines for the comparison of the clinical anticaries efficacy of fluoride dentifrices.

Comparative attributes are terms or phrases commonly employed in the vernacular of the biomedical literature to convey the results of comparative studies. Examples are such terms as "equivalent" or "superior." Recently, there has developed an increasing tendency in certain areas of application toward the institution of guidelines which provide both a uniform set of criteria for defining such attributes and a set of requirements which must be satisfied in order to demonstrate that such attributes may hold in a particular situation.