Premium
Allocation concealment: a methodological review
Author(s) -
Clark Laura,
Schmidt Ulrike,
Tharmanathan Puvan,
Adamson Joy,
Hewitt Catherine,
Torgerson David
Publication year - 2013
Publication title -
journal of evaluation in clinical practice
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.737
H-Index - 73
eISSN - 1365-2753
pISSN - 1356-1294
DOI - 10.1111/jep.12032
Subject(s) - judgement , sample size determination , medicine , randomized controlled trial , medline , set (abstract data type) , clinical trial , meta regression , meta analysis , quality (philosophy) , computer science , statistics , surgery , pathology , philosophy , mathematics , epistemology , political science , law , programming language
Rationale, aims and objectives The accurate reporting of the trial methodology and results is essential for accurate judgement on the quality of the research. This review aims to assess the impact of the adequacy of allocation concealment on treatment effect estimates. Methods A search was performed in MEDLINE (via the O vid platform) to identify all randomized controlled trials ( RCTs ) indexed in J anuary 2011 within its set of ‘core clinical journals’. Meta‐regression was undertaken on a subset of two arm trials to quantify the association between adequacy of allocation concealment and effect size. Results Adequate allocation concealment methods were used in 27% ( n = 23) of included trials. There was insufficient information given in 68% ( n = 58) of trials to make a judgement on allocation concealment. Meta‐regression showed that there was a trend, not statistically significant, towards a smaller effect size between adequacy of allocation concealment and effect sizes. Conclusion This review highlighted that research needs to be reported to a higher standard and there are many trials reporting poor methods of allocation concealment within the small sample of trials included in this review.