Assessing the Clinical Importance of Statistically Significant Improvement in Anti-Dementia Drug Trials

Vol. 20, No. 2, 2001

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Invited Review

Assessing the Clinical Importance of Statistically Significant Improvement in Anti-Dementia Drug Trials
Kenneth Rockwood^a,b, Chris MacKnight^a

^aDivision of Geriatric Medicine, Department of Medicine, and
^bDepartment of Community Health and Epidemiology, Dalhousie University, Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada

Address of Corresponding Author

Neuroepidemiology 2001;20:51-56 (DOI: 10.1159/000054761)

Key Words

Alzheimer's disease
Controlled trials
Clinical importance

Abstract

A strategy for assessing the clinical importance of statistically significant treatment benefits in recent dementia drug trials is proposed. Traditional criteria for the assessment of valid inferences are helpful: the more likely the treatment effects are valid, the greater the chance that they will be clinically important. The role of the Clinician's Interview-Based Impression of Change is also of some importance. Progress in this area faces the special challenge that the 'new' disease entity of partial treatment of Alzheimer's disease has not been well described. Large, systematic clinical studies of treated patients remain necessary to define reliable guides to successful treatment.

Author Contacts

Kenneth Rockwood
Centre for Health Care of the Elderly
5955 Jubilee Road, Room 1421
Halifax, NS B3H 2E1 (Canada)
Tel. +1 902 473 8687, Fax +1 902 473 1050, E-Mail rockwood@is.dal.ca

Article Information

Number of Print Pages : 6
Number of Figures : 0, Number of Tables : 0, Number of References : 41

Medline Abstract (ID 11359070)

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