Multiple choice general knowledge

In a clinical trial of a drug to improve the survival rate following heart attacks:

  1. cases receiving the drug should be matched with controls by age and sex.

  2. subjects should be a random sample of patients from a large population.

  3. if possible, written informed consent should be obtained before patients can be admitted

  4. subjects should be told whether they are receiving the test drug or not.

  5. the admitting clinician should know what drug the patient will receive before admitting
Reveal answer Fill a bubble to check yourself
C Correct answer
Explanation

Written informed consent is an ethical requirement before admitting patients to clinical drug trials. Matching cases by age/sex (A) is not standard practice; subjects should be representative rather than random samples (B); patients are typically blinded to treatment allocation (D); admitting clinicians should not know allocation to avoid bias (E).

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