Randomized Control Trial (RCT)

Randomised Control Trial (RCT)

• A RCT is a type of scientific experiment that aims to establish cause-and-effect relationships between interventions and outcomes by randomly assigning participants to different treatment groups.

Importance of Inclusion and Exclusion Criteria

• Inclusion criteria define the characteristics of participants who are eligible to participate in a trial, ensuring that the sample is representative of the population being studied.
• Exclusion criteria identify individuals who are not suitable for the trial, often due to conflicting conditions or characteristics that may affect the outcome.
• Setting clear inclusion and exclusion criteria helps to reduce bias, increase validity, and ensure the results are applicable to the target population.

Consequences of Narrow Inclusion Criteria

• If the inclusion criteria for a trial are too narrow, the sample may not be representative of the population, limiting the generalizability of the results to real-world scenarios.
• This can lead to a lack of diversity in the study population, reducing the trial's ability to detect differences between treatment groups.

Random Allocation of Participants

• Random allocation of participants into study groups ensures that the groups are comparable in terms of demographic and clinical characteristics, reducing confounding variables.
• This helps to establish a causal link between the intervention and the outcome, as any differences between the groups can be attributed to the treatment rather than pre-existing differences.

Control Group in an RCT

• The control group, also known as the comparison group, receives a standard treatment, a placebo, or no treatment at all, serving as a baseline to compare the outcomes of the intervention group.
• The control group provides a reference point to evaluate the effectiveness of the intervention, allowing researchers to determine whether any changes are due to the intervention or other factors.

Test your knowledge of randomized control trials! Learn about the experimental and comparison groups, as well as the assessment of intervention effectiveness using trial results and analysis.