Statistical Methods in Recent HIV Noninferiority Trials: Reanalysis of 11 Trials
2011

Reanalysis of Recent HIV Trials

Sample size: 11 publication Evidence: moderate

Author Information

Author(s): Philippe Flandre

Primary Institution: INSERM UMR-S 943, University Pierre and Marie Curie (UPMC) Paris VI and Department of Virology, AP-HP, Pitié-Salpêtrière Hospital, Paris, France

Hypothesis

Does the choice of statistical method change the conclusions of noninferiority trials in HIV drug development?

Conclusion

The statistical methods used to estimate confidence intervals in noninferiority trials have a strong impact on the conclusion of such trials.

Supporting Evidence

  • Different statistical methods can lead to different conclusions in noninferiority trials.
  • Confidence intervals varied significantly based on the statistical method used.
  • Most trials did not change conclusions despite different methods due to point estimates being far from noninferiority margins.

Takeaway

This study looked at how different ways of analyzing data from HIV trials can lead to different conclusions about whether new treatments are as good as existing ones.

Methodology

The study reanalyzed data from 11 HIV noninferiority trials published in 2010 using five different statistical methods to estimate confidence intervals.

Potential Biases

Potential bias due to the choice of statistical methods and the impact on conclusions drawn from the trials.

Limitations

The study did not apply all statistical methods proposed for estimating confidence intervals for differences between independent proportions.

Participant Demographics

Included HIV-infected adult patients over 18 years old.

Digital Object Identifier (DOI)

10.1371/journal.pone.0022871

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