4
   

Does "appropriately powered studies" mean "driven by proper method and ample fund"?

 
 
Reply Fri 2 Nov, 2012 10:11 pm


Context:

Several well-designed and appropriately powered studies involving patients with resected stage III colon cancer have failed to show a survival benefit associated with irinotecan, bevacizumab, and, most recently, cetux imab. This strongly suggests that efficacy in the treatment of metastatic disease does not predict efficacy in the adjuvant setting. Hence, there is a dire need for additional treatment options for patients with resected stage III colorectal cancer who may harbor micrometastatic disease.
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Type: Question • Score: 4 • Views: 1,673 • Replies: 11
No top replies

 
View best answer, chosen by oristarA
JTT
 
  1  
Reply Sat 3 Nov, 2012 02:03 am
@oristarA,
Beats me, Ori.

Calling JPB, calling JPB.
oristarA
 
  1  
Reply Sat 3 Nov, 2012 03:19 am
@JTT,
JTT wrote:

Beats me, Ori.

Calling JPB, calling JPB.


Yes JPB.
We haven't seen her for a long while.
0 Replies
 
engineer
 
  1  
Reply Sat 3 Nov, 2012 05:35 am
@oristarA,
"well designed" means "driven by proper method" so I read "appropriately powered" to mean well funded.
oristarA
 
  1  
Reply Sat 3 Nov, 2012 10:17 am
@engineer,
engineer wrote:

"well designed" means "driven by proper method" so I read "appropriately powered" to mean well funded.


Sounds reasonable.
0 Replies
 
contrex
 
  1  
Reply Sat 3 Nov, 2012 11:39 am
You are all just guessing. Better to do some research.

[I Googled "study appropriately powered" without the quotes.]

The concept of "power" has a special meaning when used in the context of clinical research. The "power" of a trial or study is a measurable, or calculable quantity.

(1) BMC (British Medical Council) Research Methodology

A tutorial on pilot studies: the what, why and how

http://www.biomedcentral.com/1471-2288/10/1

A study should only be conducted if the results will be informative; [...] The focus of a pilot study should be on assessment of feasibility, unless it was powered appropriately to assess statistical significance.

(2) The Wikipedia article about clinical trials...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clinical_trial#Statistical_power

Statistical power

The number of patients enrolled in a study has a large bearing on the ability of the study to reliably detect the size of the effect of the study intervention. This is described as the "power" of the trial. The larger the sample size or number of participants in the trial, the greater the statistical power.

However, in designing a clinical trial, this consideration must be balanced with the fact that more patients make for a more expensive trial. The power of a trial is not a single, unique value; it estimates the ability of a trial to detect a difference of a particular size (or larger) between the treated (tested drug/device) and control (placebo or standard treatment) groups. By example, a trial of a lipid-lowering drug versus placebo with 100 patients in each group might have a power of 0.90 to detect a difference between patients receiving study drug and patients receiving placebo of 10 mg/dL or more, but only have a power of 0.70 to detect a difference of 5 mg/dL.
JTT
 
  0  
Reply Sat 3 Nov, 2012 01:05 pm
@contrex,
Quote:
You are all just guessing. Better to do some research.


Good advice, C. You really ought to consider that for yourself sometimes.
0 Replies
 
contrex
 
  1  
Reply Sat 3 Nov, 2012 02:38 pm
Nice of you to contribute something apposite and relevant, JTT.
JPB
  Selected Answer
 
  2  
Reply Sat 3 Nov, 2012 02:55 pm
The "power" of a study is a statistical term that indicates there is sufficient sample size to have enough power (strength/fortitude) to find a significant difference between groups if one truly exists.



Edit: note that there is such a thing as too much power where you find a statistical difference based on a small difference in outcomes when there really is no difference between groups. If you have too large a sample size then the differences between groups can be very small and statistically significant. Sometime we call that the difference between statistical significance and clinical significance.
0 Replies
 
JTT
 
  1  
Reply Sat 3 Nov, 2012 05:38 pm
@contrex,
Quote:
Nice of you to contribute something apposite and relevant, JTT.


So, I took a post off. You're just shocked by the switch, C.
0 Replies
 
oristarA
 
  1  
Reply Sat 3 Nov, 2012 11:09 pm
@contrex,
contrex wrote:

You are all just guessing. Better to do some research.

[I Googled "study appropriately powered" without the quotes.]

The concept of "power" has a special meaning when used in the context of clinical research. The "power" of a trial or study is a measurable, or calculable quantity.

(1) BMC (British Medical Council) Research Methodology

A tutorial on pilot studies: the what, why and how

http://www.biomedcentral.com/1471-2288/10/1

A study should only be conducted if the results will be informative; [...] The focus of a pilot study should be on assessment of feasibility, unless it was powered appropriately to assess statistical significance.

(2) The Wikipedia article about clinical trials...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clinical_trial#Statistical_power

Statistical power

The number of patients enrolled in a study has a large bearing on the ability of the study to reliably detect the size of the effect of the study intervention. This is described as the "power" of the trial. The larger the sample size or number of participants in the trial, the greater the statistical power.

However, in designing a clinical trial, this consideration must be balanced with the fact that more patients make for a more expensive trial. The power of a trial is not a single, unique value; it estimates the ability of a trial to detect a difference of a particular size (or larger) between the treated (tested drug/device) and control (placebo or standard treatment) groups. By example, a trial of a lipid-lowering drug versus placebo with 100 patients in each group might have a power of 0.90 to detect a difference between patients receiving study drug and patients receiving placebo of 10 mg/dL or more, but only have a power of 0.70 to detect a difference of 5 mg/dL.


Excellent!
JPB has confirmed you, Contrex.
McTag
 
  1  
Reply Mon 5 Nov, 2012 05:23 pm
@oristarA,

I believe this is also expressed in terms of "confidence level". The bigger the sample being studied, the greater the confidence placed upon the results.
0 Replies
 
 

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