Potential bias in ophthalmic pharmaceutical clinical trials

Abstract

Paul VarnerJohn J Pershing Veterans’ Administration Medical Center, Poplar Bluff, Missouri, USAAbstract: To make clinicians aware of potential sources of error in ophthalmic pharmaceutical clinical trials that can lead to erroneous interpretation of results, a critical review of the study design of various pharmaceutical ophthalmic clinical trials was completed. Discrepancies as a result of study shortcomings may explain observed differences between reported ophthalmic trial data and observed clinical results.Keywords: evidence-based medicine, validity, bias, gold standard