A randomised controlled trial examining a treatment for septic shock reports the following results:
"At 90 days after randomization, 27.9% patients who had been assigned to receive the treatment had died, as had 28.8% who had been assigned to receive placebo (odds ratio 0.95; 95% confidence interval [Cl], 0.82 to 1.10; P value= 0.50)."
a) Explain the meaning of the underlined terms. Interpret the result of the trial.
(40% marks)
Odds ratio: The odds of a patient in the treatment group dying within 90 days divided by the odds of patients in the placebo group dying within 90 days.
95% confidence interval: The range of values which is 95% certain to contain the population parameter of interest (in this case, Odds Ratio)
P Value: The probability of obtaining the observed, or more extreme results, assuming the null hypothesis is true. (3 marks)
In case it matters to anybody, in this SAQ the examiners are using the findings of the ADRENAL trial (Venkatesh et al, 2018)
Odds ratio:
Confidence interval:
p-value:
Interpretation of results: