Blinding and bias in randomized controlled trials: when to measure the effectiveness of blinding
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Edwards, P
Sakzewski, L
Thorley, M
Kentish, M
Ware, RS
Boyd, RN
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EDITOR–A recent letter by Hastings‐Ison and Graham1 considered three randomized controlled trials (RCTs) that report the outcome of botulinum neurotoxin A (BoNT‐A) injections in children with cerebral palsy (CP), and asserted that they were not effectively blinded. This assertation is made because, at follow‐up, parents and researchers were able to identify which group (BoNT‐A or placebo) the child was allocated to. However, a question such as ‘Do you think your child received BoNT‐A or placebo?’ can only be used to assess the effectiveness of blinding if it is answered before any effect due to the treatment occurs. If the same question is asked after the treatment has taken effect, then it becomes an outcome measure – a measure of the parent's expectation of the intervention's success.
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Developmental Medicine and Child Neurology
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© 2019 Mac Keith Press. This is the peer reviewed version of the following article: Blinding and bias in randomized controlled trials: when to measure the effectiveness of blinding, Developmental Medicine & Child Neurology, 2019, which has been published in final form at https://doi.org/10.1111/dmcn.14369. This article may be used for non-commercial purposes in accordance with Wiley Terms and Conditions for Self-Archiving (http://olabout.wiley.com/WileyCDA/Section/id-828039.html)
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Biomedical and clinical sciences
Clinical sciences
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Copeland, L; Edwards, P; Sakzewski, L; Thorley, M; Kentish, M; Ware, RS; Boyd, RN, Blinding and bias in randomized controlled trials: when to measure the effectiveness of blinding, Developmental Medicine and Child Neurology, 2019