Have Cluster Randomised Trials a Role in Health Care Research?
Journal Title: Journal of Oncology and Cancer Research - Year 2017, Vol 1, Issue 1
Abstract
Cluster Randomised trials, where groups of individuals are randomised to different treatments and outcomes measured on individuals, have many limitations inherent in the trial design. Selection bias can be introduced into cluster randomised trials at the individual level due to participant recruitment procedures. The sample size of a cluster randomised trial needs to be much larger than that for an individually randomised trial as the clustering effect means that the study has a decreased statistical power and broader confidence interval than a similar study randomised by the individual. Bias can be an issue in cluster trials so in order to reduce bias as much as possible some factors should be considered at the design, sampling and analysis stages which can keep the level of bias to a minimum. Despite the limitations, however, cluster randomised trials have many uses in health care research when individually randomised trials are not feasible or practical or the level of contamination is estimated to be quite high. Cost is not a reason to conduct a cluster randomised trials as the required increase in sample size would negate other cost savings.
Authors and Affiliations
Maria Broderick
Keywords
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- EP ID EP249310
- DOI 10.28967/jocr.2017.01.17003
- Views 103
- Downloads 0
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