Evaluating clinical research : all that glitters is not gold / Bengt D. Furberg and Curt D. Furberg.

New York : Springer Verlag, [2007], ©2007.

161 pages : illustrations, portraits ; 24 cm

2nd ed.

Includes bibliographical references (p. 149-158) and index.

What is the purpose of this book? -- Why is benefit-to-harm balance essential to treatment decisions? -- What are the strengths of randomized controlled clinical trials? -- What are the weaknesses of randomized controlled clinical trials? -- Do meta-analyses provide the ultimate truth? -- What are the strengths of observational studies? -- What are the weaknesses of observational studies? -- Were the scientific questions stated in advance? -- Were the treatment groups comparable initially? -- Why is blinding/masking so important? -- How is symptomatic improvement measured? -- Is it really possible to assess quality of life? -- What is the value of biologic markers in drug evaluation? -- How are adverse drug reactions measured? -- How representative are study subjects in clinical trials? -- What happened to the study subjects who disappeared from the analysis? -- How reliable are active-control trials? -- How informative are composite outcomes? -- Do changes in biologic markers predict clinical benefit? -- How trustworthy are the authors? -- Does publication in a reputable scientific journal guarantee quality? -- Is it necessary to be a biostatistician to interpret scientific data? -- Are all drugs of a class interchangeable? -- How much confidence can be placed on economic analysis? -- How should I handle the massive flow of information? -- How well is research translated into clinical care?