Question

A randomized controlled study aimed to study the efficacy of Vitamin D supplements for prevention of prostate cancer was conducted among White males aged 50-64 years across all New England states in the United States. Can you identify potential limitation(s) of this study and suggest ways to address it(them)?

Answer 1

Answer :

Potential limitations of randomized controlled study :

1. Complexity and cost : for detailed abservation and as a large study it is infeasible, and to doing study also difficult.

2. It may be unethical to conduct study, because here the patients selected randomly and assigned potentially treatment.

3. External factors can always influences the validity of the study.

4. Inadequate data for selection of controls.

5. Instability of the study treatment.

Some ways to address them :

* easily accessible sample and adequate sample should be selected for the study.

* eligible and interested sample should be selected.

* appropriate data must be collected for the study.

* the stability must be there.

* avoid influence of external factors on the study.