Losing participants before the trial ends erodes credibility of findings

Jun Xia, Clive Adams, Nishant Bhagat, Vinaya Bhagat, Paranthaman Bhoopathi, Hany El-Sayeh, Vanessa Pinfold, Yahya Takriti

Research output: Journal PublicationArticlepeer-review

291 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

AIMS AND METHOD: To estimate the proportion of attrition at which results of drug trials for people with schizophrenia lose enough credibility to become mistrusted by relevant groups of stakeholders. A piloted questionnaire was sent to 128 local clinicians, 100 relevant researchers and 104 service users and carers. RESULTS: We received the biggest number of responses from the service user and carer group (n=81, 76%); 43% of clinicians and 32% of researchers responded. All three groups suggested that the follow-up rate for a 12-week schizophrenia drug trial should be around 70-75% for the trial to be credible. CLINICAL IMPLICATIONS: This survey suggests that relevant stakeholders, including researchers, fundamentally mistrust results of the majority of drug trials in schizophrenia. Adopting a more pragmatic trial design can help address this.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)254-257
Number of pages4
JournalPsychiatric Bulletin
Volume33
Issue number7
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - Jul 2009

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Psychiatry and Mental health

Fingerprint

Dive into the research topics of 'Losing participants before the trial ends erodes credibility of findings'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

Cite this