Title
Difficulties in the interpretation of the results of biomedical research related to chronic non-communicable disease patient management
Other title
Dificultades en la interpretación de los resultados de la investigación biomédica relacionada con el manejo de pacientes con enfermedades crónicas no transmisibles
Date Issued
01 January 2014
Access level
metadata only access
Resource Type
journal article
Author(s)
Publisher(s)
Instituto Nacional de Salud
Abstract
The progressive increase in the prevalence of chronic non-communicable diseases (CNCD) has generated a need to change the paradigms in interpreting research about therapeutic and disease control strategies. One aspect to keep in mind is the incorporation of risk awareness that CNCD treatment implies, which creates uncertainty in the treatment result, compared to the curative paradigm that occurs in communicable diseases where a cure is expected. Another aspect is related to clinical trials result reports, where substitute results are used frequently. For example, the therapeutic goal of reducing glycosylated hemoglobin in a diabetic patient instead of showing the results based on treatment benefit (such as prevention of myocardial infarction). Problems arise when looking for a substitute that can replace the result that really matters. That is why we must be alert to the widespread use of results grouping (composite outcomes) which while they allow studies with fewer patients with shorter follow-up times and less expense, they can generate misleading results and show presumed untrue benefits due to improper selection of components of the "composite outcomes". In this article we draw attention to new challenges in the interpretation of scientific studies related to CNCDs.
Start page
127
End page
130
Volume
31
Issue
1
Language
English
OCDE Knowledge area
Otros temas de medicina clínica
Subjects
Scopus EID
2-s2.0-84898442527
PubMed ID
Source
Revista Peruana de Medicina Experimental y Salud Publica
ISSN of the container
17264634
Sources of information:
Directorio de Producción Científica
Scopus