RECENT ASSIGNMENT

PART 3.1 APPRAISAL OF YOUR RANDOMISED CONTROLLED TRIAL (Please consider the word limit for each question, 13 marks )
Assessing the quality of the available evidence has also been a key focus this semester. Use the CASP tool for RCTs below to appraise the quality of your selected RCT.
Section A: Are the results of the trial valid?
Screening Questions
1. Did the trial address a clearly focused issue?
?Yes ?No ?Can’t tell
Justify your answer: (Max 50 words)
HINT: An issue can be ‘focused’ In terms of
• The population studied
• The intervention given
• The comparator given
• The outcomes considered
2. Was the assignment of patients to treatments randomised? (Max 50 Words)
?Yes ?No ?Can’t tell
Justify your answer:
HINT: Consider
• How was this carried out?
• Was the allocation sequence concealed from
3. Were all of the patients who entered the trial properly accounted for at its conclusion? (Max 50 words)
?Yes ?No ?Can’t tell
Justify your answer:
HINT: Consider
• Was the trial stopped early?
• Were patients analysed in the groups to which they were randomised?
4. Were patients, health workers and study personnel ‘blind’ to treatment? (Max 50 words)
?Yes ?No ?Can’t tell
Justify your answer:
HINT: Think about
• Patients?
• Health workers?
• Study personnel?
5. Were the groups similar at the start of the trial? (Max 50 words)
?Yes ?No ?Can’t tell
Justify your answer:
HINT: Look at
• Other factors that might affect the outcome such as age,
• sex, social class
• researchers and patients?
6. Aside from the experimental intervention were the groups treated equally? (Max 50 words)
?Yes ?No ?Can’t tell
Justify your answer:
Section B: What are the results?
7. How large was the treatment effect? (Max 150 words)
Justify your answer:
HINT: Consider
• What outcomes were measured?
• Is the primary outcome clearly specified?
• What results were found for each outcome?
8. How precise was the estimate of the treatment effect? (Max 100 words)
Justify your answer:
HINT: Consider
• What are the confidence limits?
Section C: Will the results help locally?
9. Can the results be applied in your context? (or to the local population?) (Max 100 words)
?Yes ?No ?Can’t tell
Justify your answer:
HINT: Consider whether
• Do you think that the patients covered by the trial
• are similar enough to the patients to whom you will
• apply this?, if not how to they differ?
10. Were all clinically important outcomes considered? (Max 50 words)
?Yes ?No ?Can’t tell
Justify your answer:
HINT: Consider
• Is there other information you would like to have seen?
• If not, does this affect the decision?
11. Are the benefits worth the harms and costs? ?Yes ?Can’t tell ?No (Max 100 words)
Justify your answer:
HINT: Consider: Even if this is not addressed by the review, what do you think?