Clinical trial transparency, include clinical trial registration, unbiased reporting results and sharing individual participant data (IPD), is one of the most important revolutionary concepts following clinical epidemiology and evidence-based medicine in the medical field. Sharing IPD is a medical ethics issue reflected a new sense of worth and constructing new rules of clinical trials. Our viewpoint is that from the essential purpose of clinical research, IPD is a social public property. Sharing IPD is a one of the best ways for respecting the contributions of the participants, and one of the keys for changing face of clinical trials.
Survival data were widely used in oncology clinical trials. The methods used, such as the log-rank test and Cox regression model, should meet the assumption of proportional hazards. However, the survival data with non-proportional hazard (NPH) are also quite usual, which will decrease the power of these methods and conceal the true treatment effect. Therefore, during the trial design, we need to test the proportional hazard assumption and plan different analysis methods for different testing results. This paper introduces some methods that are widely used for proportional hazard testing, and summarizes the application condition, advantages and disadvantages of analysis methods for non-proportional hazard survival data. When the non-proportional hazard occurs, we need to choose the suitable method case by case and to be cautious in the interpretation of the results.
Statistical graph is an indispensable part of scientific papers. It is helpful to promote the communication, dissemination, and application of academic achievements by presenting research results intuitively and accurately through standardized and beautiful visual graphs. The safety of a medical intervention is the basic premise of its clinical application, and randomized controlled trial (RCT) as an important design to determine the efficacy and safety of medical interventions, it is extremely important to accurately present the information on the safety outcomes of interventions found therein. However, the research found that the reports of RCTs didn’t adequately use visual graphs to present harms data. In order to promote clinical researchers to better use visual graphs to present harms data, international scholars recently published a consensus study in BMJ, which identified and recommended 10 statistical graphs for presenting harms data in RCTs. In order to facilitate domestic scholars to understand and apply the consensus, this article interprets the consensus and recommendations, and it is expected to provide help for improving the quality of harms visualization in domestic papers of RCTs.
Based on the conclusion of recent clinical research conducted by foreign countries, there is no statistical
difference in outcomes between real and placebo acupuncture. This paper analyzes the weaknesses of methods currently
being used by foreign countries to compare the effects of real and placebo acupuncture, striving for a new way to test for
the placebo effect; a way that is more scientific, more suitable for the current conditions of China, while at the same time
capable of being recognized internationally. This paper describes a new acupuncture placebo-controlled method. Under
the condition of complete patient trust, we may ensure an ideal placebo effect to the greatest extent by minimizing the
potential curative effects in the placebo group. From the actual clinical practice, by randomized controlled trial comparing
acupuncture and medicine, using the concept as the double-dummy clinical trail, this paper explores the “double-dummy
– non-specific sites – random sampling” method in the clinical setting as a way to form a new acupuncture clinical research
model of comparison between acupuncture and medicine.
Objective To explore the current problems of training on ethics reviews in clinical trials in China. Methods We designed a quantitative survey to collect participants’ feedbacks on the training workshop on ethics reviews, which included contents, arrangement and structure, relevant to the workshop and their difficulties on ethics review work. Results A total of 60 questionnaires were sent and the response rate was 56.7% (34/60). A total of 120 participants from 18 provinces of China. Most of them were members of the virtual research center of evidence-base medicine of the Ministry of education. A total of 78.1% (25/32) participants thought they achieved their purpose after training, and 12.5% (4/32) did not meet their needs due to the poor language. The feedbacks of contents and quality of the workshop on ethics were shown in Table 1. The top useful contents (cents in 8-10) were: clinical trial registration, policies of WHO and China (93.8%, 30/32), data management and quality control in clinical trials, the roles of clinical trial registries and ethics committees (93.3%, 28/30), transparency in clinical trials (93.3%, 28/30), informed consent and beyond (91.8%, 31/34), and how to approach ethical review case studies (90.9%, 30/33), etc. Nobody considered workshop of less help.The majority (85.1%, 23/27) thought difficulties on ethic reviews existed and the main difficulties include: short of operational administrative rules (82.6%, 19/23), poor training opportunity (52.1%, 12/23), less supports from administrative (30.4%, 7/23) and financial (21.7%, 5/23), etc. The relevance (8-10 cents) to ethics workshop was: methods of teaching 75.9% (22/29), PPT 75% (21/28) and materials 42.9% (12/28). Conclusions There is some limitations in the first workshop on ethic reviews due to the lower response rate. However, it still shows the importance of training on ethics reviews. Training strategies should focus on different participants’ needs and the relevance to methods of teaching, and materials, etc. Workshopadopted lectures, cases studies analysis, more discussions and necessary translation will be welcome.
With the advancement of research on rare ocular diseases such as inherited retinal dystrophy (IRD) has advanced in recent years, especially breakthroughs in therapeutic approaches represented by cell and gene therapy, potential intervention strategies have emerged for these conditions. Establishing standardized endpoints and evaluation methods for visual function in patients with IRD has become crucial for assessing disease progression, safety, and therapeutic efficacy of innovative treatments. Best corrected visual acuity (BCVA) is widely recognized as one of the primary endpoints for assessing visual function. However, for IRD patients with severe rod photoreceptor dysfunction, who often present with profound low vision or even legal blindness, the applicability of BCVA as a traditional visual function indicator is limited. The multi-luminance mobility test (MLMT) has emerged as a functional visual assessment tool that evaluates the ability to navigate obstacle courses under varying illumination levels. By establishing graded evaluation standards, MLMT objectively quantifies the impact of lighting conditions on patients’ nobility and spatial orientation, providing a novel quantitative tool for assessing visual function in IRD clinical trials. Currently, there is a lack of unified and standardized guidelines for the use of MLMT in China, posing challenges to its implementation in practical clinical research. To address this, Ocular Fundus Disease Society of Chinese Medical Association and Chinese Medical Doctor Association convened a multidisciplinary team comprising clinical experts in genetic retinal diseases, statisticians, and optical specialists to investigate the current applications and technical characteristics of MLMT, ultimately formulating consensus recommendations for its use as a clinical trial endpoint for IRD gene therapies. This consensus aims to provide a set of MLMT operating norms applicable to China's national conditions, guide clinical practice and research in ophthalmology and related disciplines, and promote the standardization process of IRD clinical trials in China, so as to better serve the IRD patient population and promote the development of related fields.
Objective To evaluate the efficacy and safety of safflower yellow pigment lyophilized power amp; dripping solution in the treatment of patients with angina, by using parenteral solution of Dan-shen root extraction as control, we designed the nonferiority clinical trial phase Ⅲ. Method 784 patients with stable angina pectoris Ⅰ, Ⅱ, Ⅲ degree and occurred more than twice per week were selected. They were randomly, stratified and blindly assigned into 5 parallel groups including one control. They were treated by using safflower yellow pigment lyophilized power (SYPLP) 80 mg + 0.9% NS 250ml, intravenously guttae, daily (trial group 1); SYPLP 160 mg + 0.9% NS 250 ml, intravenously guttae, daily (trial group 2); safflower yellow pigment lyophilized dripping solution (SYPLDS) 200 ml (160 mg), intravenously guttae, daily (trial group 3); SYPLDS 100 ml (80 mg), intravenously guttae, daily (trial group 4) and parenteral solution of Dan-shen root extraction 20 ml + 0.9% NS 250 ml, intravenously guttae, daily (control group) respectively. Efficacy and safety were evaluated after 14 days of continuous treatment. Results The angina efficacy (per-protocol population, PP): The notable effective rates of trial groups 1 to 4 and control group were 53.27%，69.44%，70.09%，55.09% and 26.00% respectively, and the effective rates were 88.79%，92.59%，93.46%，89.81% and 73.00% respectively。There was significant differences between trial group 1 and 2, trial group 3 and 4. All trial groups showed significant different effect when compared with control (P＜0.05). The effect of trial group 2 was better than those of trial group 1, and trial group 3 better than trial group 4, the four trial groups better than control group. The intention-to-treat (ITT) analysis result was almost the same to PP analysis, but trial group 3 showed no significant difference to trial group 4. In trial group 2, 3 and 4, each occurred one adverse effect, while the number was 10 in control group.Conclusion SYPLP amp; SYPLDS have certain effect on angina. They are more effective than parenteral solution of Dan-shen root extraction. No toxic side effect has been found in clinic tests.
Data management system is a major factor affecting the quality of clinical trial. Development of data management system include a steering group and data safety and monitoring board, data collection, database, performance of the data safety and monitoring, as well as locking of database. This article provides key issues of the five parts so as to help researchers understand the clinical trial data management system.
This article briefly introduces the management of clinical trials of investigational new drugs, hospital-made preparations, post-marketing drugs and other types of clinical trials. The WHO International Clinical Trial Register Platform (WHO ICTRP), Chinese Clinical Trial Register (ChiCTR) and Chinese Clinical Trial Registration and Publishing Collaboration (ChiCTRPC) are also described. People conducting trials are advised to apply the basic philosophy of evidence-based medicine in their implementation, which is considered to be one of the guarantees of the validity of clinical trials.
The use of core outcome sets reduces heterogeneity in the reporting of outcomes in clinical trials, increasing the value and significance of research. This paper first introduces and interprets “core outcome sets for myocardial infarction (COS-MI) in clinical trials of traditional Chinese medicine and Western medicine”, in order to help Chinese researchers better understand and use it. Second, this study surveyed the use of COS-MI in MI related clinical trials from January 1, 2023 to June 1, 2024, showing that 91% (10/11) of the 35 acute myocardial infarction clinical studies included reported core outcomes, and the median percentage of using core outcome sets was only 36% (4/11). As the publication time of the core outcome set is close to the literature search time, the understanding of domestic researchers about it is still unclear. Further research is needed to explore the application of core outcome sets for myocardial infarction in clinical trials of traditional Chinese medicine and Western medicine, providing a reference for its update and improvement.
