Epidemiology in the News: Randomized Trials
Although screening is an essential part of modern health care and treatment, there is evidence in research that there are few screening tests available in handling major diseases. The research shows that there isn't even a reduction in disease-specific deaths. The situation makes death a common occurrence in the circumstances. There was an assessment of 16 screening tests focusing on 9 main diseases that manifest death as a common outcome. The research team found 98 Meta analyses and 45 random, but controlled trials that focused on deaths caused by specific diseases or just deaths that result from all causes. Reductions in deaths that come from specific diseases were significantly rare while all-cause mortality deaths were the rarest (OUP, 2015).
The study used systematic review to systematically evaluate evidence from randomized controlled trials (RCTs) to determine whether screening reduces mortality arising from diseases that often cause death. The study was conducted from three sources: United States Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF), PubMed and Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews. The selected studies were the most comprehensive i.e. the ones with more long-term follow-up included in trials. Trials that were included in the study met the follow-up time of...
After selecting the studies for use, the trials were conducted for a period of 6 months between January and June, 2014 (Saquib, Saquib & Ioannidis, 2015).
There were only 19 randomized trials for 11 diseases, i.e. cervical cancer, aortic aneurysm, colorectal cancer, hepatocellullar cancer, lung cancer, oral cancer, prostate cancer, breast cancer, canbreat cancer, type 2 and cardiovascular disease. It is shown by the authors that disease specific deaths have reduced only by 30% in the estimates. The reduction stands at 11% for all-cause mortality estimates from the randomized and controlled trials that were analyzed. In the disease specific mortality findings, the evidence is backed up by observations from individualized controlled trials from four meta analyses, but not even one of the 6 meta-analyses that incorporated the estimates for all-cause mortality showed signs of a reduction in mortality (OUP, 2015).
How the study benefited from the randomized trial design?
Research specialists suggest that randomized trials should be a serious consideration on as-is basis that is determined by the disease in question. They say that in such cases, screening is likely to produce results even for a number of other outcomes apart from mortality. The authors conclude that the…
public health with regard to the inequities that exist in the provision of health services has never been worse. Researchers have consistently and tirelessly made public health a subject of their study. The quest for a solution to these inequities is central in two spheres of public health: community based interventions and social epidemiology. The inequities in focus transcend social, economic, political and racial bounds. They are ever increasing
Epidemiology Definition and Description of Epidemiology The word epidemiology was derived from the Greek words where "epi" means upon, "demos" means people, and "logos" means study. Epidemiology can be defined in detail as the study of distribution and determinants of health-related states or events in specified populations, and the application of this study to the prevention and control of health problems. (Last, 2001) Here, in the definition the distribution refers to analysis of persons,
Participants were included if they had experienced sexual or physical assault in childhood or adulthood and met criteria for PTSD at the time of the initial assessment, were at least 3 months posttrauma (no upper limit), and if on medication, were stabilized. Women with current substance dependence were included if/when they had been abstinent for 6 months. Those with substance abuse were permitted to participate if they agreed to
In some mammals with this capability, an unfertilized egg may begin developing into an embryo or the development can just stop. Investigators even suspected that the difficulties experienced by teams in mammal-cloning experiments were due to the absence of RNAs in the sperm. In cloning, scientists would take the DNA from a non-germ cell, add it to an egg denuded of its DNA and trick it into developing as
Furthermore, reports reveal that major organs of the body such as nerves, blood vessels, kidney and so forth are at immense risk of being damaged after the onset of type 1 diabetes. Moreover, history illustrates that diabetes cut down the years from the life of sufferers (Achenbach, Bonifacio, Koczwara, & Ziegler, 2005). Clinical type 2 diabetes is also developed through a number of stages. The person initially becomes resistant towards
Bass, P., Wilso, J. And Griffith, C. (2003). A Shortened Instrument for Literacy Screening. Journal of General Internal Medicine, 8(12), 1036-8. Berger, J. (2000). Corporate Health Plan Strategies and Health Literacy. National Health Communications Conference. Washington, DC: ACP Fouindation. Chew, L., Bradley, K., and Boyko, E.. (2004). Brief Questions to Identify Patients with Inadequate Health Literacy. Family Medicine, 36(8), 588-94. Chew, L., Griffin, J., Partin, M., et al. (2008). Validation of Screening Questions