James Lind Library

Ahoy! You can learn more about the history of systematic reviews and meta-analysis in the article that Mike Clarke wrote for me in 2015
www.jameslindlibrary.org/articles/his...
#EvidenceSynthesis #EBM #EBHC

Marking the sad news of Drummond Rennie's death, a tribute has been added here
www.jameslindlibrary.org/flanagin-a-g...
Also, Drummond and Iain Chalmers wrote about the dangers of medical reviews and textbooks that ignore scientific principles here
www.jameslindlibrary.org/articles/exp...
@jama.com

If you'd like to learn about the development of randomised trials in education through history, read my new article from Carole Torgerson about the first use of randomisation in educational research www.jameslindlibrary.org/articles/whe...
#RCT #FairTests #EducationalResearch #History #Randomized

100 years ago today, the British Medical Journal published Moir's study of the narcotic effects of two hyoscines using alternation to form comparable groups. It's at www.jameslindlibrary.org/moir-jc-1925 illustrating the development of fair tests of treatment through history
@bmj.com

Ahoy! If you'd like to watch an interview between Cindy and Iain Chalmers recorded about 30 years ago, it starts 1:38 into the video at
radar.brookes.ac.uk/radar/items/...

Ahoy! You might also be interested in reading the piece Dave Sackett wrote for me about why he became a clinician trialist. It's available free here: www.jameslindlibrary.org/articles/why...
#RandomizedTrials #DaveSackett #EBM

Ahoy! You might also be interested in reading the piece Dave Sackett wrote for me about why he became a clinician trialist. It's available free here: www.jameslindlibrary.org/articles/why...
#RandomizedTrials #DaveSackett #EBM

Read the new commentary that Christian Gluud and Kristian Thorlund wrote for me about Klim McPherson’s article on sequential analysis of trial data, which was published more than half a century (51 years) ago www.jameslindlibrary.org/articles/lon...

#TSA #TrialSequentialAnalysis #RCT

World Mosquito Day 2025|World Mosquito Program Join us on World Mosquito Day, 20th August, to explore the history, impact, and innovative solutions in the fight against mosquito-borne diseases worldwide.

On World Mosquito Day (www.worldmosquitoprogram.org/world-mosqui...), what better way to learn about clinical trials through history than reading the article Silvio Garattini wrote for me about early 20th century controlled trials to prevent malaria in Italy www.jameslindlibrary.org/articles/ita...

Ahoy! Learn about the importance of randomisation through history in my library at www.jameslindlibrary.org. For example, read how the GISSI trials embedded patient and public health oriented randomised trials into the Italian health service 40 years ago
www.jameslindlibrary.org/articles/emb...

Ahoy! With the publication of the new SPIRIT guidance on reporting protocols for randomised trials, read about the history of reporting guidelines in the article that Doug Altman and Iveta Simera wrote for me in 2015 www.jameslindlibrary.org/articles/a-h...
#SPIRIT #RCT
@equatornetwork.bsky.social‬

Ahoy! 40 years since #BackToTheFuture, use the James Lind Library to learn about randomised trials through history, including 1985 trial from the #WHO testing coronary heart disease prevention in 50,000 men from 66 factories in Belgium, Italy, Poland & UK
www.jameslindlibrary.org/kornitzer-m-...

INTERNATIONAL PINEAPPLE DAY | June 27 INTERNATIONAL PINEAPPLE DAY June 27 is International Pineapple Day on the National Day Calendar and we want everyone to find a way to enjoy this refreshingly,

On #International#PineappleDay www.nationaldaycalendar.com/internationa... have a look at my record for a @jama.com article from 99 years ago in which George Minot & William Murphy describe a diet (that included #pineapple) for treating pernicious anaemia
www.jameslindlibrary.org/minot-gr-mur...

On #Red4Research Day, visit my website at JamesLindLibrary.org to learn about the development of fair tests of treatment through history

3/3 The article Mike Clarke wrote for me about the series of DICE studies and the importance of Don't Ignore Chance Effects
www.jameslindlibrary.org/articles/the...
#dice #chance

2/3 The need to consider the risk of being misled by the play of chance as a key concept for #InformedHealthChoices
www.jameslindlibrary.org/essays-essay...

and the dangers that a combination of bias and chance will lead to misleading results
www.jameslindlibrary.org/essays-essay...

1/3 On Friday 13th, here's some things you might like to read about the effects of chance in research....
#FridayThe13th #FairTests

Winston Churchill's race to secure penicillin before D-Day found in notes Handwritten notes show the wartime prime minister's frustration over slow penicillin production.

Following the discovery of papers showing Churchill's concerns about the availability of #penicillin during WW2 www.bbc.com/news/article..., read the article Ben Toth wrote for me about some of the research that showed the drug's remarkable benefits www.jameslindlibrary.org/articles/pio... #BBC #WW2

World Bicycle Day | United Nations The bicycle is a simple, affordable, reliable, clean and environmentally fit sustainable means of transportation.

On #WorldBicycleDay (www.un.org/en/observanc...), have a look at this trial from 50 years ago (yes, half a century!) that randomised participants to a control group or 20 weeks of running, walking or cycling for 30 minutes three times a week pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/1152627/ #Exercise #RCT

YouTube video by CEBM Oxford Richard Peto - Large-scale randomised evidence: how will it inform clinical practice?

8/8 If you’d like to learn more about the importance of ISIS-2, watch the start of Sir Richard Peto’s talk at Evidence Live 2015 www.youtube.com/watch?v=xYIP... or read what he wrote for me in 2016 www.jameslindlibrary.org/articles/ref... #EvidenceLive #EBHC @cebmoxford.bsky.social

From star signs to trial guidelines The most entertaining example of inappropriate subgroup analysis is to be found in a 1988 Lancet paper.1 Within a complex table reporting subgroup analyses of the odds of vascular death after streptok...

7/8 Analyses, negotiated between authors and editors, include what Richard Horton, @thelancet.com‬ editor, called "the most entertaining example of inappropriate subgroup analysis": no benefit from aspirin for #Gemini & #Libra but clear benefit for other birth signs www.thelancet.com/journals/lan...

6/8 In the 5 weeks after randomisation, there were 804 (9.4%) vascular deaths among 8587 patients allocated aspirin but 1016 (11.8%) in 8600 allocated placebo. The odds of dying in the 5 weeks after their MI were reduced by about a quarter if patients were given 160mg aspirin a day for a month.

5/8 They were randomised to aspirin, streptokinase, both or neither in what’s called a factorial trial, which will feature more in a future #TrialsTuesday. This meant that half the patients got aspirin and half did not.

4/8 More than 400 hospitals across 16 countries took part, recruiting 17,187 patients with a suspected MI between 5 March 1985 and 31 December 1987.

3/8 ISIS-2 was the second International Study of Infarct Survival, and shares its name with that given to the River Thames as it flows through Oxford, where the organisational home of the trial, the Radcliffe Infirmary is based. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Radclif...

2/8 ISIS-2 is the trial, published in 1988, that showed the life-saving benefits of aspirin for someone having a heart attack, more technically, a myocardial infarction (or MI). www.jameslindlibrary.org/isis-2-secon...

#TrialsTuesday #9 In recent weeks, Trials Tuesday has highlighted some small, practice changing trials. In contrast, today’s trial is one that was described as “massive” by Keith Veronese in Making Medicine. It was called ISIS-2. 1/8

Ahoy! Congratulations to DAMOCLES on its 20th anniversary. Peter Armitage reflected on earlier years of data monitoring committees in his interview with Iain Chalmers: www.jameslindlibrary.org/articles/the...
Another example of seeing the development of fair tests of treatment through history

8/8 Quoting NIHR "The findings of STAMPEDE have led to extended survival rates for men with advanced prostate cancer. They have changed global treatment guidelines and shed new light on long-term outcomes."
www.nihr.ac.uk/about-us/our...