comparator drugs in statistical studies

Last reviewed 01/2018

Comparator drugs and doses studied:

• when a study has a comparator intervention against an active control, it is important that any comparisons that are made are fair
  • if a drug of interest was being compared with a control drug with respect to side effects then it would be an unfair comparison if a low dose of a drug of interest was compared with a high dose of a control drug because will have the effect of minimising the risk of side effects from the drug of interest and potentially maximising the harms seen with the control drug
  • if a drug of interest was compared with a control drug with respect to efficacy then an unfair comparison would be to compare a high dose of the drug of interest with a low dose of an active control drug - this would potentially maximise the efficacy of the drug of interest, but may minimise the efficacy of the control drug

Reference:

1. MeReC Briefing (2005);30:1-7.
2. Wiebe S. The principles of evidence-based medicine.Cephalalgia. 2000;20 Suppl 2:10-3.