Frazier and Mosteller assert that
medical research could be improved by
a move toward larger, simpler clinical
Line trials of medical treatments. Currently,
(5) researchers collect far more background
information on patients than is strictly
required for their trials—substantially more
than hospitals collect—thereby escalating
costs of data collection, storage, and
(10) analysis. Although limiting information
collection could increase the risk that
researchers will overlook facts relevant
to a study, Frazier and Mosteller contend
that such risk, never entirely eliminable
(15) from research, would still be small in most
studies. Only in research on entirely new
treatments are new and unexpected vari-
ables likely to arise.
Frazier and Mosteller propose not
(20) only that researchers limit data collec-
tion on individual patients but also that
researchers enroll more patients in clinical
trials, thereby obtaining a more represen-
tative sample of the total population with
(25) the disease under study. Often research-
ers restrict study participation to patients
who have no ailments besides those being
studied. A treatment judged successful
under these ideal conditions can then
(30) be evaluated under normal conditions.
Broadening the range of trial participants,
Frazier and Mosteller suggest, would
enable researchers to evaluate a treat-
ment’s efficacy for diverse patients under
(35) various conditions and to evaluate its
effectiveness for different patient sub-
groups. For example, the value of a
treatment for a progressive disease may
vary according to a patient’s stage of
(40) disease. Patients’ ages may also affect
a treatment’s efficacy.