Question

A new drug treatment for cardiac thrombus claims to have a higher success rate than the current drug. A strong sign of the potential success is the lack of internal hemorrhaging starting 2 days after treatment. 168 patients who require treatment for cardiac thrombi are randomized after agreeing to participate in a trial of the new drug. The researchers were interested in whether the new drug reduced the need for blood transfusions due to internal hemorrhage compared to the current treatment. What is the main advantage of the randomization of the 168 study participants to one of the two drug treatment groups?

Select one:

a. Ensures that the researchers are masked to the treatment group assignment for each participant

b. Facilitates the age-adjustment of the death rate in each group

c. Reduces the potential for selection bias in allocation of treatment group

d. Ensures that the study groups are comparable for characteristics such as age and severity of condition prior to treatment assignment

e. Ensures that non-compliance will not affect the results

Answer 1

Maine advantage of randomization is to reduce the potential of selection bias in allocation of treatment group.

Option C is correct.