Stopping randomized trials early for benefit and estimation of treatment effects : systematic review and meta-regression analysis

Perera, Rafael

doi:10.1001/jama.2010.310

Stopping randomized trials early for benefit and estimation of treatment effects : systematic review and meta-regression analysis

Date Issued

2010-01-01

Author(s)

Bassler, Dirk

Briel, Matthias

Montori, Victor M

Lane, Melanie

Glasziou, Paul

Zhou, Qi

Heels-Ansdell, Diane

Walter, Stephen D

Guyatt, Gordon H

STOPIT-2, Study Group

Flynn, David N

Elamin, Mohamed B

Murad, Mohammad Hassan

Abu Elnour, Nisrin O

Lampropulos, Julianna F

Sood, Amit

Mullan, Rebecca J

Erwin, Patricia J

Bankhead, Clare R

Perera, Rafael

Ruiz Culebro, Carolina

You, John J

Mulla, Sohail M

Kaur, Jagdeep

Nerenberg, Kara A

Schünemann, Holger

Cook, Deborah J

Lutz, Kristina

Ribic, Christine M

Vale, Noah

Malaga, German

Akl, Elie A

Ferreira-Gonzalez, Ignacio

Alonso-Coello, Pablo

Urrutia, Gerard

Kunz, Regina

Bucher, Heiner C

Nordmann, Alain J

Raatz, Heike

da Silva, Suzana Alves

Tuche, Fabio

Strahm, Brigitte

Djulbegovic, Benjamin

Adhikari, Neill K J

Mills, Edward J

Gwadry-Sridhar, Femida

Kirpalani, Haresh

Soares, Heloisa P

Karanicolas, Paul J

Burns, Karen E A

Vandvik, Per Olav

Coto-Yglesias, Fernando

Chrispim, Pedro Paulo M

Ramsay, Tim

DOI

10.1001/jama.2010.310

Abstract

Theory and simulation suggest that randomized controlled trials (RCTs) stopped early for benefit (truncated RCTs) systematically overestimate treatment effects for the outcome that precipitated early stopping.