The role of observational studies in the evaluation of treatmentsis a long-standing and contentious topic.1 In this issue ofthe Journal, Concato et al.2 and Benson and Hartz3 report thatobservational studies give results similar to those of randomized,controlled trials. If these claims lead to more observationalstudies of therapeutic interventions and fewer randomized, controlledtrials, we see considerable dangers to clinical research andeven to the well-being of patients.
Any systematic review of evidence on a therapeutic topic needsto take into account the quality of the evidence. Any study,whether randomized or observational, may have flaws . . . [Full Text of this Article]
References
Related Letters:
Observational Studies and Randomized Trials
Kunz R., Khan K. S., Neumayer H.-H., Sacks H. S., Liu P.-Y., Anderson G., Crowley J. J., Friedman H. S., Smith R. P., Meier P., Benson K., Hartz A. J., Concato J., Shah N., Horwitz R. I.
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N Engl J Med 2000;
343:1194-1197, Oct 19, 2000.
Correspondence
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