Statistical standards in journal articles.

摘要

I note with interest the outstanding article1 written by the Chief Editor of Anaesthesia and Intensive Care, and recently published in Anesthesia & Analgesia. In what should be a landmark paper, he and his colleague elegantly explain the importance of the minimum effect size of interest used in power calculations. They further show how its misuse or non-use in anaesthesia trials has led to widespread and profound misinterpretation of the results of clinical trials, even widely-cited ones, with potentially adverse implications for clinical practice.In his conclusion, Dr Gibbs calls for "greater rigor in the design and interpretation of clinical trials, with closer scrutiny of the minimum effect size of interest (by both authors and readers), adequate power, and a focus on primary rather than secondary outcomes".