Statistical Evidence in Medical Trials: Mountain or Molehill, What Do the Data Really Tell Us?

by Stephen Simon

Statistical Evidence in Medical Trials is a lucid, well-written and entertaining text that addresses common pitfalls in evaluating medical research. Including extensive use of publications from the medical literature and a non-technical account of how to appraise the quality of evidence presented in these publications, this book is ideal for health care professionals, students in medical or nursing schools, researchers and students in statistics, and anyone needing to assess the evidence published in medical journals.

Paperback

First published April 1, 2006

Reviews

[Diffusion Tensor]

The author offers a guide for the critical reading of medical journal articles, focusing on statistical-related issues. The first two chapters focus on study design and execution, considering the selection of the control group and patients who are excluded or drop out of the study. The third chapter focuses on clinical significance vs. statistical significance. Chapters 4-5 deal with corroborating evidence and meta-analysis. Chapter 6 is where statistical methods are finally discussed, and the final chapter is a brief discussion on searching for literature. This balance of topics is appropriate and welcome. The intended audience is medically literate non-statisticians, and the author has many good examples and includes "counterpoint" discussions that challenge conventional wisdom. The book is very thought-provoking and informative, and would be an excellent guide for anyone reading medical journals, including statisticians. Unfortunately the bibliography is very incomplete, with many references missing.