Assessment cycle 2026 Q3 — page 5
Documents ratified in the 2026 Q3 assessment cycle, which ran from 1 July 2026 to 30 September 2026 and was ratified on 18 September 2026.
Documents ratified
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The reporting of a subset of measured outcomes chosen after the results were known. Detected by comparing the published report with the registered protocol, which the…
30 Jul 2026 -
A structured table presenting, for each pre-specified outcome, the number of contributing participants and studies, the absolute and relative effect, the certainty…
30 Jul 2026 -
A document answering a structured question by identifying, appraising and combining the studies that bear on it, according to a protocol registered before the search was…
30 Jul 2026 -
A structured map of the evidence available for a question, published where the Institute judges that a quantitative synthesis is not yet supportable. A scoping review…
30 Jul 2026 -
A review whose unit of inclusion is a published systematic review rather than a primary study. Overlap between the included reviews is assessed and reported, because a…
30 Jul 2026 -
The four elements that define a review question: population, intervention, comparator and outcome. The Institute registers a PICO frame before searching and records any…
30 Jul 2026 -
The recording of a review question, eligibility criteria and analysis plan before the search is executed. Registration is what makes a subsequent change identifiable as…
30 Jul 2026 -
The record attached to every Institute synthesis listing each change made after protocol registration, when it was made, and why. A change that is not in the log did not…
30 Jul 2026 -
The assumption, required for indirect comparison, that participants in the contributing trials could in principle have been randomised to any of the compared…
30 Jul 2026 -
An estimate of the difference between two interventions that have not been compared directly, derived through their comparisons with a common comparator. Weaker than a…
30 Jul 2026 -
A synthesis combining direct and indirect comparisons across a connected set of interventions. The Institute publishes network estimates with its transitivity assessment…
30 Jul 2026 -
A repetition of an analysis under a different defensible assumption, conducted to establish whether a conclusion depends on that assumption. Reported whether or not the…
30 Jul 2026 -
An analysis restricted to a subset of participants. Hypothesis-generating unless the subgroup and the interaction test were pre-specified, and the Institute records…
30 Jul 2026 -
A formal test of whether a treatment effect differs across subgroups. A difference in statistical significance between two subgroups is not an interaction test and the…
30 Jul 2026 -
A result in which the observed effect does not differ from the comparator by more than chance would produce. Informative where the study was adequately powered for the…
30 Jul 2026 -
The treatment against which the intervention is compared. An effect estimate is always an estimate against a specific comparator, and no estimate is transferable to a…
30 Jul 2026 -
The effect of an intervention under the conditions of a controlled trial, in a selected population with protocol-driven adherence and follow-up.
30 Jul 2026 -
The effect of an intervention under ordinary conditions of use. Generally smaller than efficacy, principally because adherence and persistence outside a trial are lower.
30 Jul 2026 -
The allocation of participants to study arms by a chance process, which distributes both known and unknown prognostic factors between arms in expectation. The single…
30 Jul 2026 -
The prevention of foreknowledge of the next allocation by the person enrolling a participant. Distinct from blinding, which concerns knowledge after allocation, and…
30 Jul 2026 -
The withholding of knowledge of assignment from participants, investigators, outcome assessors or analysts. The Institute records who was blinded rather than describing…
30 Jul 2026 -
A design in which assignment is known to participants and investigators. Objective endpoint measurement limits but does not eliminate the resulting risk, because…
30 Jul 2026 -
A design in which neither participants nor investigators know the assignment. The Institute records the specific parties blinded, because the term is used inconsistently…
30 Jul 2026 -
A design in which the comparator is an inert preparation matched to the intervention in appearance and administration. Matching is imperfect where the intervention…
30 Jul 2026 -
A design in which the comparator is another active treatment. Establishes a difference between the two treatments and not an effect against no treatment.
30 Jul 2026 -
A design testing whether a treatment is not worse than a comparator by more than a pre-specified margin. A non-inferiority result does not establish superiority over…
30 Jul 2026 -
The largest difference, specified before the trial, that would still be regarded as acceptable in a non-inferiority design. A non-inferiority conclusion is only as…
30 Jul 2026 -
A design in which participants who have responded during an open-label lead-in are randomised to continue or to discontinue. Establishes whether an effect requires…
30 Jul 2026 -
A design in which each participant receives more than one treatment in sequence, separated by a washout. Efficient for stable conditions and unsuitable where the…
30 Jul 2026 -
A period between treatments in a crossover design intended to allow the effect of the first to dissipate. A washout shorter than approximately five half-lives leaves…
30 Jul 2026 -
A trial that continues until a pre-specified number of endpoint events has accrued rather than for a fixed duration. Follow-up duration is therefore a consequence of the…
30 Jul 2026 -
An event-driven trial with a composite cardiovascular endpoint, conducted for several agents in this class as a regulatory requirement to exclude excess risk. A trial…
30 Jul 2026 -
A period before randomisation during which all participants receive the same treatment. A run-in that excludes non-responders or non-tolerators produces a randomised…
30 Jul 2026 -
The stepwise escalation of dose toward a target. Tolerability in this compound class depends on the titration schedule as much as on the compound, which the Institute…
30 Jul 2026 -
The dose reached after titration and administered for the remainder of the treatment period. The dose to which an effect estimate attaches.
30 Jul 2026 -
Loss of participants from a trial before its primary analysis timepoint. Differential attrition between arms threatens the comparability that randomisation established.
30 Jul 2026 -
Analysis of participants in the group to which they were randomised, regardless of the treatment they received. Preserves the comparison randomisation created and…
30 Jul 2026 -
Analysis restricted to participants who adhered to the protocol. Breaks the randomised comparison and is reported by the Institute only as a secondary analysis alongside…
30 Jul 2026 -
A precise statement of the quantity a trial is estimating, including how intercurrent events such as discontinuation or rescue therapy are handled. Two trials reporting…
30 Jul 2026 -
An event occurring after randomisation that affects the interpretation of the outcome, such as treatment discontinuation, rescue medication or death. The strategy for…
30 Jul 2026
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