RESEARCH
When To Base Clinical Policies on Observational Versus Randomized Trial Data
John Hornberger, MD, MS, and
Elizabeth Wrone, MD
15 October 1997 | Volume 127 Issue 5 Part 2 | Pages 697-703
Physicians must decide when the evidence is sufficient to adopt a new clinical policy. Analysis of large clinical and administrative databases is becoming an important source of evidence for changing clinical policies. Because such analysis cannot control for the effects of all potential confounding variables, physicians risk drawing the wrong conclusion about the cause-and-effect relation between a change in clinical policy and outcomes. Randomized studies offer protection against drawing a conclusion that would lead to adoption of an inferior policy. However, a randomized study may be difficult to justify because of the extra costs of collecting data for a randomized study and concerns that a study will not directly benefit the patients enrolled in the study. This article reviews the advantages and disadvantages of basing clinical policy on analysis of large databases compared with conducting a randomized study. A technique is described and illustrated for accessing the potential costs and benefits of conducting such a study. This type of analysis formed the basis for a physician-managed health care organization deciding to sponsor a randomized study among patients with end-stage renal disease as part of a quality-improvement initiative.
Author and Article Information
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From the Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, California.
Note: This article is one of a series of articles comprising an Annals of Internal Medicine supplement entitled "Measuring Quality, Outcomes, and Cost of Care Using Large Databases: The Sixth Regenstrief Conference." To see a complete list of the articles included in this supplement, please view its Table of Contents.
Acknowledgments: The authors thank Siu Hui, Linda McCann, Philip Lavori, Mary Anne Rodgers, and two anonymous referees for their comments on the manuscript.
Requests for Reprints: John Hornberger, MD, MS, Department of Health Research and Policy, Stanford University School of Medicine, HAP Redwood Building, Room T254A, Stanford, CA 94305-5092.
Current Author Addresses: Dr. Hornberger: Department of Health Research and Policy, Stanford University School of Medicine, HAP Redwood Building, Room T254A, Stanford, CA 94305-5092.
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