Trials
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Randomized Controlled Trial Multicenter Study
Psycho-education with problem solving (PEPS) therapy for adults with personality disorder: a pragmatic multi-site community-based randomised clinical trial.
Impairment in social functioning is a key component of personality disorder. Therefore psycho-education and problem solving (PEPS) therapy may benefit people with this disorder. Psycho-education aims to educate, build rapport, and motivate people for problem solving therapy. Problem solving therapy aims to help clients solve interpersonal problems positively and rationally, thereby improving social functioning and reducing distress. PEPS therapy has been evaluated with community adults with personality disorder in an exploratory trial. At the end of treatment, compared to a wait-list control group, those treated with PEPS therapy showed better social functioning, as measured by the Social Functioning Questionnaire (SFQ). A definitive evaluation is now being conducted to determine whether PEPS therapy is a clinically and cost-effective treatment for people with personality disorder ⋯ PEPS therapy has potential as an economical, accessible, and acceptable intervention for people with personality disorder. The results from this randomised controlled trial will tell us if PEPS therapy is effective and cost-effective. If so, then it will be a useful treatment for inclusion in a broader menu of treatment options for this group of service users.
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Randomized Controlled Trial Multicenter Study
Surgical trial in lobar intracerebral haemorrhage (STICH II) protocol.
Within the spectrum of spontaneous intracerebral haemorrhage there are some patients with large or space occupying haemorrhage who require surgery for neurological deterioration and others with small haematomas who should be managed conservatively. There is equipoise about the management of patients between these two extremes. In particular there is some evidence that patients with lobar haematomas and no intraventricular haemorrhage might benefit from haematoma evacuation. The STICH II study will establish whether a policy of earlier surgical evacuation of the haematoma in selected patients will improve outcome compared to a policy of initial conservative treatment. ⋯ An international multicentre randomised parallel group trial. Only patients for whom the treating neurosurgeon is in equipoise about the benefits of early craniotomy compared to initial conservative treatment are eligible. All patients must have a CT scan confirming spontaneous lobar intracerebral haemorrhage (≤1 cm from the cortex surface of the brain and 10-100 ml in volume). Any clotting or coagulation problems must be corrected and randomisation must take place within 48 hours of ictus. With 600 patients, the study will be able to demonstrate a 12% benefit from surgery (2p < 0.05) with 80% power.Stratified randomisation is undertaken using a central 24 hour randomisation service accessed by telephone or web. Patients randomised to early surgery should have the operation within 12 hours. Information about the status (Glasgow Coma Score and focal signs) of all patients through the first five days of their trial progress is also collected in addition to another CT scan at about five days (+/- 2 days). Outcome is measured at six months via a postal questionnaire to the patient. Primary outcome is death or severe disability defined using a prognosis based 8 point Glasgow Outcome Scale. Secondary outcomes include: Mortality, Rankin, Barthel, EuroQol, and Survival.
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Reporting of the flow of participants through each stage of a randomized trial is essential to assess the generalisability and validity of its results. We assessed the type and completeness of information reported in CONSORT (Consolidated Standards of Reporting Trials) flow diagrams published in current reports of randomized trials. ⋯ Over half of published reports of randomized trials included a diagram showing the flow of participants through the trial. However, information was often missing from published flow diagrams, even in articles published in CONSORT endorsing journals. If important information is not reported it can be difficult and sometimes impossible to know if the conclusions of that trial are justified by the data presented.
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Randomized Controlled Trial
Cluster randomised trial in the General Practice Research Database: 1. Electronic decision support to reduce antibiotic prescribing in primary care (eCRT study).
The purpose of this research is to develop and evaluate methods for conducting cluster randomised trials in a primary care database that contains electronic patient records for large numbers of family practices. Cluster randomised trials are trials in which the units allocated represent groups of individuals, in this case family practices and their registered patients. Cluster randomised trials often suffer from the limitation that they include too few clusters, leading to problems of insufficient power and only imprecise estimation of the intraclass correlation coefficient, a key design parameter. This difficulty might be overcome by utilising databases that already hold electronic patient records for large numbers of practices. The protocol describes one application: a study of antibiotic prescribing for acute respiratory infection; a second protocol outlines an intervention in a less frequent chronic condition of public health importance, stroke. ⋯ Results from this study will provide methodological evidence concerning the use of electronic patient records and databases for implementing cluster randomised trials in primary care. The study will also provide substantive findings in respect of electronic record-based interventions to reduce antibiotic prescribing in primary care.
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Randomized Controlled Trial Multicenter Study Comparative Study
Early postoperative cognitive dysfunction and postoperative delirium after anaesthesia with various hypnotics: study protocol for a randomised controlled trial--the PINOCCHIO trial.
Postoperative delirium can result in increased postoperative morbidity and mortality, major demand for postoperative care and higher hospital costs. Hypnotics serve to induce and maintain anaesthesia and to abolish patients' consciousness. Their persisting clinical action can delay postoperative cognitive recovery and favour postoperative delirium. Some evidence suggests that these unwanted effects vary according to each hypnotic's specific pharmacodynamic and pharmacokinetic characteristics and its interaction with the individual patient.We designed this study to evaluate postoperative delirium rate after general anaesthesia with various hypnotics in patients undergoing surgical procedures other than cardiac or brain surgery. We also aimed to test whether delayed postoperative cognitive recovery increases the risk of postoperative delirium. ⋯ The results of this comparative anaesthesiological trial should whether each the three hypnotics tested is related to a significantly different postoperative delirium rate. This information could ultimately allow us to select the most appropriate hypnotic to maintain anaesthesia for specific subgroups of patients and especially for those at high risk of postoperative delirium. REGISTERED AT TRIAL.GOV NUMBER: ClinicalTrials.gov: NCT00507195.