Poorly Recognized and Uncommonly Acknowledged Limitations of Randomized Controlled Trials
Randomized controlled trials (RCTs) are a gold standard in evidence-based research. However, RCTs have limitations, among which the most commonly acknowledged is that narrow study selection criteria compromise the external validity of the findings. This article briefly touches upon this and other we...
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| Language: | English |
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SAGE Publishing
2025-01-01
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| Series: | Indian Journal of Psychological Medicine |
| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1177/02537176241297953 |
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| author | Chittaranjan Andrade |
| author_facet | Chittaranjan Andrade |
| author_sort | Chittaranjan Andrade |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Randomized controlled trials (RCTs) are a gold standard in evidence-based research. However, RCTs have limitations, among which the most commonly acknowledged is that narrow study selection criteria compromise the external validity of the findings. This article briefly touches upon this and other well-recognized limitations and presents, in greater detail, less commonly acknowledged limitations with examples from contemporary literature. Important among the less commonly acknowledged limitations are biases in RCTs of interventions to which patients cannot be blinded, weaknesses in the design of maintenance therapy RCTs, and, ubiquitously, post-randomization biases. The listed limitations notwithstanding, RCTs are still the best among research designs. What is important is to recognize the imperfections in each RCT so that the findings of the RCT can be better judged. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-c8fe54baf72c4e5588f81f4abc03d2c7 |
| institution | Kabale University |
| issn | 0253-7176 0975-1564 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2025-01-01 |
| publisher | SAGE Publishing |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Indian Journal of Psychological Medicine |
| spelling | doaj-art-c8fe54baf72c4e5588f81f4abc03d2c72025-01-31T11:04:15ZengSAGE PublishingIndian Journal of Psychological Medicine0253-71760975-15642025-01-014710.1177/02537176241297953Poorly Recognized and Uncommonly Acknowledged Limitations of Randomized Controlled TrialsChittaranjan Andrade0 Dept. of Clinical Psychopharmacology and Neurotoxicology, National Institute of Mental Health and Neurosciences, Bangalore, Karnataka, India.Randomized controlled trials (RCTs) are a gold standard in evidence-based research. However, RCTs have limitations, among which the most commonly acknowledged is that narrow study selection criteria compromise the external validity of the findings. This article briefly touches upon this and other well-recognized limitations and presents, in greater detail, less commonly acknowledged limitations with examples from contemporary literature. Important among the less commonly acknowledged limitations are biases in RCTs of interventions to which patients cannot be blinded, weaknesses in the design of maintenance therapy RCTs, and, ubiquitously, post-randomization biases. The listed limitations notwithstanding, RCTs are still the best among research designs. What is important is to recognize the imperfections in each RCT so that the findings of the RCT can be better judged.https://doi.org/10.1177/02537176241297953 |
| spellingShingle | Chittaranjan Andrade Poorly Recognized and Uncommonly Acknowledged Limitations of Randomized Controlled Trials Indian Journal of Psychological Medicine |
| title | Poorly Recognized and Uncommonly Acknowledged Limitations of Randomized Controlled Trials |
| title_full | Poorly Recognized and Uncommonly Acknowledged Limitations of Randomized Controlled Trials |
| title_fullStr | Poorly Recognized and Uncommonly Acknowledged Limitations of Randomized Controlled Trials |
| title_full_unstemmed | Poorly Recognized and Uncommonly Acknowledged Limitations of Randomized Controlled Trials |
| title_short | Poorly Recognized and Uncommonly Acknowledged Limitations of Randomized Controlled Trials |
| title_sort | poorly recognized and uncommonly acknowledged limitations of randomized controlled trials |
| url | https://doi.org/10.1177/02537176241297953 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT chittaranjanandrade poorlyrecognizedanduncommonlyacknowledgedlimitationsofrandomizedcontrolledtrials |