The Changing Face of Clinical Trials

These flashcards cover key vocabulary and concepts from the lecture on clinical trials and hypertension, focusing on informed consent, trial design, and ethical considerations.

Informed Consent

The process through which participants are fully informed of known risks and voluntarily agree to participate in clinical research.

Randomized Controlled Trial

A scientific tool used to measure the efficacy and adverse effects of a diagnostic or therapeutic approach.

Randomization

The critical element in trials that reduces bias by assigning participants to treatment or control groups randomly.

Placebo

An inert substance used as a comparator in clinical trials to assess the efficacy of an active treatment.

Bias

Any systematic error in the design or conduct of a trial that can lead to incorrect conclusions.

Surrogate End Point

A measure, such as a biomarker, used to substitute for a clinical outcome in trials when direct measurement is not feasible.

Clinical Equipoise

A state of genuine uncertainty within the expert medical community about the most effective treatment.

Hypertension Detection and Follow-up Program (HDFP)

A major trial that determined whether improved blood-pressure control could prolong survival.

Ethical Quandaries

Moral dilemmas that arise in clinical trials regarding the fairness of assigning treatment options.

Cardiac Arrhythmia Suppression Trial

A trial that unexpectedly found that antiarrhythmic therapy was associated with increased mortality despite its initial perceived benefits.