JAMA : the journal of the American Medical Association
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Comment Meta Analysis Comparative Study
Cancer Stage Compared With Mortality as End Points in Randomized Clinical Trials of Cancer Screening: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.
Randomized clinical trials of cancer screening typically use cancer-specific mortality as the primary end point. The incidence of stage III-IV cancer is a potential alternative end point that may accelerate completion of randomized clinical trials of cancer screening. ⋯ In randomized clinical trials of cancer screening, incidence of late-stage cancer may be a suitable alternative end point to cancer-specific mortality for some cancer types, but is not suitable for others. These results have implications for clinical trials of multicancer screening tests.