Critical Appraisal of Randomized Controlled Trials: An Overview

Abstract

Randomized Control Trials (RCTs) are the major source of information on the efficacy and safety of new and repurposed therapeutic agents and treatments. Therefore, it becomes essential that RCTs are of good quality and free of any biases. In the ever-evolving field of healthcare, making the correct clinical decision is important. Critical appraisal of new medical findings is therefore of utmost importance since clinical judgments are made based on the evidence provided by the publications and trial reports. In this review, we analyze the process of critically appraising RCTs using various researcher-developed guidelines and The Critical Appraisal Skills Programme (CASP) checklist for RCTs.

Keywords

• critical appraisal
• narrative review
• randomized control trials