Bayesian Methods and Ethics in a Clinical Trial Design

Bayesian Methods and Ethics in a Clinical Trial Design
Author: Joseph B. Kadane
Publisher: John Wiley & Sons
Total Pages: 344
Release: 2011-09-20
Genre: Medical
ISBN: 1118150597

How to conduct clinical trials in an ethical and scientificallyresponsible manner This book presents a methodology for clinical trials that producesimproved health outcomes for patients while obtaining sound andunambiguous scientific data. It centers around a real-world testcase--involving a treatment for hypertension after open heartsurgery--and explains how to use Bayesian methods to accommodateboth ethical and scientific imperatives. The book grew out of the direct involvement in the project by adiverse group of experts in medicine, statistics, philosophy, andthe law. Not only do they contribute essays on the scientific,technological, legal, and ethical aspects of clinical trials, butthey also critique and debate each other's opinions, creating aninteresting, personalized text. Bayesian Methods and Ethics in a Clinical Trial Design * Answers commonly raised questions about Bayesian methods * Describes the advantages and disadvantages of this methodcompared with other methods * Applies current ethical theory to a particular class of designfor clinical trials * Discusses issues of informed consent and how to serve a patient'sbest interest while still obtaining uncontaminated scientific data * Shows how to use Bayesian probabilistic methods to createcomputer models from elicited prior opinions of medical experts onthe best treatment for a type of patient * Contains several chapters on the process, results, andcomputational aspects of the test case in question * Explores American law and the legal ramifications of using humansubjects For statisticians and biostatisticians, and for anyone involvedwith medicine and public health, this book provides both apractical guide and a unique perspective on the connection betweentechnological developments, human factors, and some of the largerethical issues of our times.

Clinical Trial Design

Clinical Trial Design
Author: Guosheng Yin
Publisher: John Wiley & Sons
Total Pages: 368
Release: 2013-06-07
Genre: Medical
ISBN: 1118183320

A balanced treatment of the theories, methodologies, and design issues involved in clinical trials using statistical methods There has been enormous interest and development in Bayesian adaptive designs, especially for early phases of clinical trials. However, for phase III trials, frequentist methods still play a dominant role through controlling type I and type II errors in the hypothesis testing framework. From practical perspectives, Clinical Trial Design: Bayesian and Frequentist Adaptive Methods provides comprehensive coverage of both Bayesian and frequentist approaches to all phases of clinical trial design. Before underpinning various adaptive methods, the book establishes an overview of the fundamentals of clinical trials as well as a comparison of Bayesian and frequentist statistics. Recognizing that clinical trial design is one of the most important and useful skills in the pharmaceutical industry, this book provides detailed discussions on a variety of statistical designs, their properties, and operating characteristics for phase I, II, and III clinical trials as well as an introduction to phase IV trials. Many practical issues and challenges arising in clinical trials are addressed. Additional topics of coverage include: Risk and benefit analysis for toxicity and efficacy trade-offs Bayesian predictive probability trial monitoring Bayesian adaptive randomization Late onset toxicity and response Dose finding in drug combination trials Targeted therapy designs The author utilizes cutting-edge clinical trial designs and statistical methods that have been employed at the world's leading medical centers as well as in the pharmaceutical industry. The software used throughout the book is freely available on the book's related website, equipping readers with the necessary tools for designing clinical trials. Clinical Trial Design is an excellent book for courses on the topic at the graduate level. The book also serves as a valuable reference for statisticians and biostatisticians in the pharmaceutical industry as well as for researchers and practitioners who design, conduct, and monitor clinical trials in their everyday work.

Small Clinical Trials

Small Clinical Trials
Author: Institute of Medicine
Publisher: National Academies Press
Total Pages: 221
Release: 2001-01-01
Genre: Medical
ISBN: 0309171148

Clinical trials are used to elucidate the most appropriate preventive, diagnostic, or treatment options for individuals with a given medical condition. Perhaps the most essential feature of a clinical trial is that it aims to use results based on a limited sample of research participants to see if the intervention is safe and effective or if it is comparable to a comparison treatment. Sample size is a crucial component of any clinical trial. A trial with a small number of research participants is more prone to variability and carries a considerable risk of failing to demonstrate the effectiveness of a given intervention when one really is present. This may occur in phase I (safety and pharmacologic profiles), II (pilot efficacy evaluation), and III (extensive assessment of safety and efficacy) trials. Although phase I and II studies may have smaller sample sizes, they usually have adequate statistical power, which is the committee's definition of a "large" trial. Sometimes a trial with eight participants may have adequate statistical power, statistical power being the probability of rejecting the null hypothesis when the hypothesis is false. Small Clinical Trials assesses the current methodologies and the appropriate situations for the conduct of clinical trials with small sample sizes. This report assesses the published literature on various strategies such as (1) meta-analysis to combine disparate information from several studies including Bayesian techniques as in the confidence profile method and (2) other alternatives such as assessing therapeutic results in a single treated population (e.g., astronauts) by sequentially measuring whether the intervention is falling above or below a preestablished probability outcome range and meeting predesigned specifications as opposed to incremental improvement.

Bayesian Adaptive Methods for Clinical Trials

Bayesian Adaptive Methods for Clinical Trials
Author: Scott M. Berry
Publisher: CRC Press
Total Pages: 316
Release: 2010-07-19
Genre: Mathematics
ISBN: 1439825513

Already popular in the analysis of medical device trials, adaptive Bayesian designs are increasingly being used in drug development for a wide variety of diseases and conditions, from Alzheimer's disease and multiple sclerosis to obesity, diabetes, hepatitis C, and HIV. Written by leading pioneers of Bayesian clinical trial designs, Bayesian Adapti

Statistical Aspects Of The Design And Analysis Of Clinical Trials (Revised Edition)

Statistical Aspects Of The Design And Analysis Of Clinical Trials (Revised Edition)
Author: Brian S Everitt
Publisher: World Scientific
Total Pages: 338
Release: 2004-02-26
Genre: Medical
ISBN: 1783260777

Fully updated, this revised edition describes the statistical aspects of both the design and analysis of trials, with particular emphasis on the more recent methods of analysis.About 8000 clinical trials are undertaken annually in all areas of medicine, from the treatment of acne to the prevention of cancer. Correct interpretation of the data from such trials depends largely on adequate design and on performing the appropriate statistical analyses. This book provides a useful guide to medical statisticians and others faced with the often difficult problems of designing and analysing clinical trials./a

Recent Advances in Clinical Trial Design and Analysis

Recent Advances in Clinical Trial Design and Analysis
Author: Peter F. Thall
Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media
Total Pages: 263
Release: 2012-12-06
Genre: Medical
ISBN: 1461520096

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.

Bayesian Approaches to Clinical Trials and Health-Care Evaluation

Bayesian Approaches to Clinical Trials and Health-Care Evaluation
Author: David J. Spiegelhalter
Publisher: John Wiley & Sons
Total Pages: 416
Release: 2004-01-16
Genre: Mathematics
ISBN: 9780471499756

READ ALL ABOUT IT! David Spiegelhalter has recently joined the ranks of Isaac Newton, Charles Darwin and Stephen Hawking by becoming a fellow of the Royal Society. Originating from the Medical Research Council’s biostatistics unit, David has played a leading role in the Bristol heart surgery and Harold Shipman inquiries. Order a copy of this author’s comprehensive text TODAY! The Bayesian approach involves synthesising data and judgement in order to reach conclusions about unknown quantities and make predictions. Bayesian methods have become increasingly popular in recent years, notably in medical research, and although there are a number of books on Bayesian analysis, few cover clinical trials and biostatistical applications in any detail. Bayesian Approaches to Clinical Trials and Health-Care Evaluation provides a valuable overview of this rapidly evolving field, including basic Bayesian ideas, prior distributions, clinical trials, observational studies, evidence synthesis and cost-effectiveness analysis. Covers a broad array of essential topics, building from the basics to more advanced techniques. Illustrated throughout by detailed case studies and worked examples Includes exercises in all chapters Accessible to anyone with a basic knowledge of statistics Authors are at the forefront of research into Bayesian methods in medical research Accompanied by a Web site featuring data sets and worked examples using Excel and WinBUGS - the most widely used Bayesian modelling package Bayesian Approaches to Clinical Trials and Health-Care Evaluation is suitable for students and researchers in medical statistics, statisticians in the pharmaceutical industry, and anyone involved in conducting clinical trials and assessment of health-care technology.

Sequential Experimentation in Clinical Trials

Sequential Experimentation in Clinical Trials
Author: Jay Bartroff
Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media
Total Pages: 250
Release: 2012-12-12
Genre: Medical
ISBN: 1461461146

Sequential Experimentation in Clinical Trials: Design and Analysis is developed from decades of work in research groups, statistical pedagogy, and workshop participation. Different parts of the book can be used for short courses on clinical trials, translational medical research, and sequential experimentation. The authors have successfully used the book to teach innovative clinical trial designs and statistical methods for Statistics Ph.D. students at Stanford University. There are additional online supplements for the book that include chapter-specific exercises and information. Sequential Experimentation in Clinical Trials: Design and Analysis covers the much broader subject of sequential experimentation that includes group sequential and adaptive designs of Phase II and III clinical trials, which have attracted much attention in the past three decades. In particular, the broad scope of design and analysis problems in sequential experimentation clearly requires a wide range of statistical methods and models from nonlinear regression analysis, experimental design, dynamic programming, survival analysis, resampling, and likelihood and Bayesian inference. The background material in these building blocks is summarized in Chapter 2 and Chapter 3 and certain sections in Chapter 6 and Chapter 7. Besides group sequential tests and adaptive designs, the book also introduces sequential change-point detection methods in Chapter 5 in connection with pharmacovigilance and public health surveillance. Together with dynamic programming and approximate dynamic programming in Chapter 3, the book therefore covers all basic topics for a graduate course in sequential analysis designs.

Intervention Research

Intervention Research
Author: Mark W. Fraser
Publisher: Oxford University Press
Total Pages: 224
Release: 2009-04-02
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 0199717079

When social workers draw on experience, theory, or data in order to develop new strategies or enhance existing ones, they are conducting intervention research. This relatively new field involves program design, implementation, and evaluation and requires a theory-based, systematic approach. Intervention Research presents such a framework. The five-step strategy described in this brief but thorough book ushers the reader from an idea's germination through the process of writing a treatment manual, assessing program efficacy and effectiveness, and disseminating findings. Rich with examples drawn from child welfare, school-based prevention, medicine, and juvenile justice, Intervention Research relates each step of the process to current social work practice. It also explains how to adapt interventions for new contexts, and provides extensive examples of intervention research in fields such as child welfare, school-based prevention, medicine, and juvenile justice, and offers insights about changes and challenges in the field. This innovative pocket guide will serve as a solid reference for those already in the field, as well as help the next generation of social workers develop skills to contribute to the evolving field of intervention research.

Frontiers of Statistical Decision Making and Bayesian Analysis

Frontiers of Statistical Decision Making and Bayesian Analysis
Author: Ming-Hui Chen
Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media
Total Pages: 631
Release: 2010-07-24
Genre: Mathematics
ISBN: 1441969446

Research in Bayesian analysis and statistical decision theory is rapidly expanding and diversifying, making it increasingly more difficult for any single researcher to stay up to date on all current research frontiers. This book provides a review of current research challenges and opportunities. While the book can not exhaustively cover all current research areas, it does include some exemplary discussion of most research frontiers. Topics include objective Bayesian inference, shrinkage estimation and other decision based estimation, model selection and testing, nonparametric Bayes, the interface of Bayesian and frequentist inference, data mining and machine learning, methods for categorical and spatio-temporal data analysis and posterior simulation methods. Several major application areas are covered: computer models, Bayesian clinical trial design, epidemiology, phylogenetics, bioinformatics, climate modeling and applications in political science, finance and marketing. As a review of current research in Bayesian analysis the book presents a balance between theory and applications. The lack of a clear demarcation between theoretical and applied research is a reflection of the highly interdisciplinary and often applied nature of research in Bayesian statistics. The book is intended as an update for researchers in Bayesian statistics, including non-statisticians who make use of Bayesian inference to address substantive research questions in other fields. It would also be useful for graduate students and research scholars in statistics or biostatistics who wish to acquaint themselves with current research frontiers.