Ebook: Recent Advances in Clinical Trial Design and Analysis

Clinical trials have two purposes -- to treat the patients in the trial, and to obtain information which increases our understanding of the disease and especially how patients respond to treatment. Statistical design provides a means to achieve both these aims, while statistical data analysis provides methods for extracting useful information from the trial data.
Recent advances in statistical computing have enabled statisticians to implement very rapidly a broad array of methods which previously were either impractical or impossible. Biostatisticians are now able to provide much greater support to medical researchers working in both clinical and laboratory settings. As our collective toolkit of techniques for analyzing data has grown, it has become increasingly difficult for biostatisticians to keep up with all the developments in our own field. Recent Advances in Clinical Trial Design and Analysis brings together biostatisticians doing cutting-edge research and explains some of the more recent developments in biostatistics to clinicians and scientists who work in clinical trials.

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Clinical trials have two purposes -- to treat the patients in the trial, and to obtain information which increases our understanding of the disease and especially how patients respond to treatment. Statistical design provides a means to achieve both these aims, while statistical data analysis provides methods for extracting useful information from the trial data.
Recent advances in statistical computing have enabled statisticians to implement very rapidly a broad array of methods which previously were either impractical or impossible. Biostatisticians are now able to provide much greater support to medical researchers working in both clinical and laboratory settings. As our collective toolkit of techniques for analyzing data has grown, it has become increasingly difficult for biostatisticians to keep up with all the developments in our own field. Recent Advances in Clinical Trial Design and Analysis brings together biostatisticians doing cutting-edge research and explains some of the more recent developments in biostatistics to clinicians and scientists who work in clinical trials.

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Clinical trials have two purposes -- to treat the patients in the trial, and to obtain information which increases our understanding of the disease and especially how patients respond to treatment. Statistical design provides a means to achieve both these aims, while statistical data analysis provides methods for extracting useful information from the trial data.
Recent advances in statistical computing have enabled statisticians to implement very rapidly a broad array of methods which previously were either impractical or impossible. Biostatisticians are now able to provide much greater support to medical researchers working in both clinical and laboratory settings. As our collective toolkit of techniques for analyzing data has grown, it has become increasingly difficult for biostatisticians to keep up with all the developments in our own field. Recent Advances in Clinical Trial Design and Analysis brings together biostatisticians doing cutting-edge research and explains some of the more recent developments in biostatistics to clinicians and scientists who work in clinical trials.
Content:
Front Matter....Pages i-x
The alpha spending function approach to interim data analyses....Pages 1-27
Issues in the design and analysis of AIDS clinical trials....Pages 29-47
Recent developments in the design of phase II clinical trials....Pages 49-71
Multivariate failure time data....Pages 73-93
Goodness-of-fit and diagnostics for proportional hazards regression models....Pages 95-112
A review of tree-based prognostic models....Pages 113-124
Decision analysis and Bayesian methods in clinical trials....Pages 125-154
A Bayesian model for evaluating specificity of treatment effects in clinical trials....Pages 155-175
The exact analysis of contingency tables in medical research....Pages 177-202
Stratified-adjusted versus unstratified assessment of sample size and power for analyses of proportions....Pages 203-223
Quality-of-life assessment in clinical trials....Pages 225-246
Back Matter....Pages 247-258

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Clinical trials have two purposes -- to treat the patients in the trial, and to obtain information which increases our understanding of the disease and especially how patients respond to treatment. Statistical design provides a means to achieve both these aims, while statistical data analysis provides methods for extracting useful information from the trial data.
Recent advances in statistical computing have enabled statisticians to implement very rapidly a broad array of methods which previously were either impractical or impossible. Biostatisticians are now able to provide much greater support to medical researchers working in both clinical and laboratory settings. As our collective toolkit of techniques for analyzing data has grown, it has become increasingly difficult for biostatisticians to keep up with all the developments in our own field. Recent Advances in Clinical Trial Design and Analysis brings together biostatisticians doing cutting-edge research and explains some of the more recent developments in biostatistics to clinicians and scientists who work in clinical trials.
Content:
Front Matter....Pages i-x
The alpha spending function approach to interim data analyses....Pages 1-27
Issues in the design and analysis of AIDS clinical trials....Pages 29-47
Recent developments in the design of phase II clinical trials....Pages 49-71
Multivariate failure time data....Pages 73-93
Goodness-of-fit and diagnostics for proportional hazards regression models....Pages 95-112
A review of tree-based prognostic models....Pages 113-124
Decision analysis and Bayesian methods in clinical trials....Pages 125-154
A Bayesian model for evaluating specificity of treatment effects in clinical trials....Pages 155-175
The exact analysis of contingency tables in medical research....Pages 177-202
Stratified-adjusted versus unstratified assessment of sample size and power for analyses of proportions....Pages 203-223
Quality-of-life assessment in clinical trials....Pages 225-246
Back Matter....Pages 247-258
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