The DOI matches its Crossref record; 98 of the 99 references it cites were found in a registry or an index.
Subgroup analyses in therapeutic cardiovascular clinical trials: Are most of them misleading?
Abstract
Background Treatment decisions in clinical cardiology are directed by results from randomized clinical trials (RCTs). We studied the appropriateness of the use and interpretation of subgroup analysis in current therapeutic cardiovascular RCTs.Methods We reviewed main reports of phase 3 cardiovascular RCTs with at least 100 patients, published in 2002 and 2004, and from major journals (Circulation, J Am Coll Cardiol, Am Heart J, Am J Cardiol, N Engl J Med, Lancet, JAMA, BMJ, Ann Intern Med). Information on subgroups included prespecification, number, interaction test use, significant subgroups found, and emphasis on findings. We examined appropriateness of reporting and differences according to sample size, overall trial result, and CONSORT adoption.Results We selected 63 RCTs, with a median of 496 (range 100-15,245) patients. Thirty-nine RCTs were reported with subgroup analyses and 26 with > 5 subgroups. No trial was specifically powered to detect subgroup effects, and only 14 RCTs were reported with fully prespecified subgroups. Only 11 RCTs were reported with interaction tests. Furthermore, 21 RCTs were reported with claims of significant subgroups and 15 with equal or more emphasis to subgroups than to the overall results. Subgroup analyses in large RCTs (> 500 patients) were reported more often than in small ones (24/30 vs 15/33, P = .005). No differences were found according to overall result (positive/negative) or CONSORT adoption.Conclusions Subgroup analyses in recent cardiovascular RCTs were reported with several shortcomings, including a lack of prespecification and testing of a large number of subgroups without the use of the statistically appropriate test for interaction. Reporting of subgroup analysis needs to be substantially improved because emphasis on these secondary results may mislead treatment decisions.
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“In 2006, Hernandez et al 4 reported similar results after investigating published cardiovascular RCTs.”
From Understanding of interaction (subgroup) analysis in clinical trials (2019) · cites this paper as [4]
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Chan, A.-W., Tetzlaff, J. M., Gotzsche, P. C., Altman, D. G., Mann, H., Berlin, J. A., Dickersin, K., Hrobjartsson, A., Schulz, K. F., Parulekar, W. R., et al. (2013) · BMJ · doi:10.1136/bmj.e7586 · Cited by 6,251
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Stone, G. W., McLaurin, B. T., Cox, D. A., Bertrand, M. E., Lincoff, A. M., Moses, J. W., White, H. D., Pocock, S., Ware, J. H., Feit, F., et al. (2006) · New England Journal of Medicine · doi:10.1056/nejmoa062437 · Cited by 1,461
Statistics in Medicine — Reporting of Subgroup Analyses in Clinical Trials
Wang, R., Lagakos, S. W., Ware, J. H., Hunter, D. J., & Drazen, J. M. (2007) · New England Journal of Medicine · doi:10.1056/nejmsr077003 · Cited by 1,445
Pfeffer, M. A., Claggett, B. L., Assmann, S. F., Boineau, R., Anand, I. S., Clausell, N., Desai, A. S., Díaz, R., Fleg, J. L., Gordeev, I. G., et al. (2014) · Circulation · doi:10.1161/circulationaha.114.013255 · Cited by 1,083
Metadata
- Authors
- Hernández, A. V., Boersma, E., Murray, G. D., Habbema, J. D. F., & Steyerberg, E. W.
- Affiliations
- Erasmus MC (NL)
- University of Edinburgh (GB)
- Corresponding author
- Hernández, Adrián V.
- Venue
- American Heart Journal
- Publisher
- Elsevier BV
- Published
- 2006-02
- Volume
- 151
- Issue
- 2
- Pages
- 257-264
- ISSN
- 0002-8703 (ISSN-L)
- OpenAlex
- W1971141955
- Cited by
- 131
- References
- 99
- Citations by year
- 2026: 2 · 2025: 3 · 2024: 8 · 2023: 4 · 2022: 5 · 2021: 2 · 2020: 7 · 2019: 6 · 2018: 4 · 2017: 3 · 2016: 7 · 2015: 3 · 2014: 7 · 2013: 11 · 2012: 13
- FWCI
- 7.82
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- American Heart Journal (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- EUR Research Repository (Erasmus University Rotterdam) (submittedVersion)
- Topics
- Physical Sciences › Mathematics › Statistics and Probability › Statistical Methods in Clinical Trials
- Social Sciences › Decision Sciences › Statistics, Probability and Uncertainty › Meta-analysis and systematic reviews
- Physical Sciences › Mathematics › Statistics and Probability › Statistical Methods in Epidemiology
- Keywords
- subgroup analysis, cardiovascular clinical trials, interaction testing, trial reporting quality, CONSORT, sample size, treatment decision-making, publication bias
- MeSH terms
- Cardiovascular Diseases, Data Interpretation, Statistical, Decision Making, Humans, Randomized Controlled Trials as Topic, Treatment Outcome, Clinical Trials, Phase III as Topic, Sample Size
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