blinding

Compelling evidence from meta-epidemiological studies demonstrates overestimation of effects in randomized trials that fail to optimize randomization and blind patients and outcome assessors [A number of authors are from Gordon Guyatt’s group at McMaster University in Canada] Objective To...

Critical Appraisal Tools, University of Oxford So while looking for something else I came across this website with "critical appraisal tools" for various study types: https://www.cebm.ox.ac.uk/resources/ebm-tools/critical-appraisal-tools On randomised controlled trials it is said on blinding...

Bias was reduced in an open-label trial through the removal of subjective elements from the outcome definition Objective: To determine whether modifying an outcome definition to remove subjective elements reduced bias in a trial that could not use blinded outcome assessment. Study design and...

How the Lancet lost our trust Stuart Ritchie The Spectator (UK) 26/06/2021 A few of us have tried to get Ritchie interested in the PACE trial, but he has previously refused. But since it now seems to support his argument, he does cautiously mention it...

(This is a reference to the discussion on bias due to a lack of blinding here.) Bull, L. (2007). Sunflower therapy for children with specific learning difficulties (dyslexia): A randomised, controlled trial. Complementary Therapies in Clinical Practice, 13(1), 15–24...

(Note that this is an old trial from 2001) Abstract Context: Use of nonpharmacological behavioral therapy has been suggested for treatment of chronic primary insomnia, but well-blinded, placebo-controlled trials demonstrating effective behavioral therapy for sleep-maintenance insomnia are...

Full reference: Berger, D. (2015). Double-blinding and bias in medication and cognitive-behavioral therapy trials for major depressive disorder. F1000Research, 4. Link: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4732552/ Abstract:

Just came across this and thought it might be of interest (its not new, its from 2004) Moncrieff, J., Wessely, S., & Hardy, R. (2004). Active placebos versus antidepressants for depression. Cochrane database of systematic reviews, CD003012.PUB2...

When is lack of scientific integrity a reason for retracting a paper? A case study. Abstract: This editorial has just come out in the Journal of Psychosomatic Research. It is a discussion of issues that arose from this 2004 publication: This study is a triple-blinded randomised controlled...

Vink M, Vink-Niese A. The draft updated NICE guidance for ME/CFS highlights the unreliability of subjective outcome measures in non-blinded trials. Journal of Health Psychology. January 2021 (Editorial), doi:10.1177/1359105321990810...

"Ian Harris explains that more than half of commonly performed surgical operations may be placebos. Adequate studies using a blinded control group are essential." "Ian Harris, a Professor of Orthopaedic Surgery at the University of New South Wales in Sydney, Australia, wrote a book titled...

Paywall, https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/21641846.2020.1848262 Sci hub. no access at time of posting. ETA: Corrected access details.

I plan to submit these comments to the current version of the Cochrane review next week (sorry I took me so long to write these down - long story). I thought it might be useful to post it here on S4ME first in case someone notices any mistakes so that I can still correct these before formally...

I've written a blog post about the recent amendment to the Cochrane review and how it doesn't address the major flaws. I will post the full text below as this makes it easier to quote and discuss...

I would like to use this thread for a discussion on the effects of a lack of blinding in randomized trials, something that frequently comes up in our discussions elsewhere on the forum. Ever since the new risk of bias (RoB 2) tool for Cochrane came out I’ve been trying to learn more about...