Creation of a patient-informed analysis using MIA (Missing Information Analyser)
Every year thousands of clinical trials take place to determine how safe and useful medical interventions are for patients. “Missing data” is something that all clinical trials have. Simply put, it is when measurements meant to be collected from participants are not. This can pose a problem when trying to understand the results from the clinical trial.
To understand this, imagine that a clinical trial is a puzzle. During the trial participants have measurements taken to assess their health, with each measurement being a puzzle piece. Despite careful planning, their healthcare can be disrupted, preventing them from giving all their puzzle pieces. This means that at the end of the trial the clinical trial puzzle has gaps, making it hard to understand what the clinical trial results mean, making it harder to know how useful or safe that medical intervention is for patients. While there are ways to handle these missing pieces, decisions are made without input from patients and the public.
What are we trying to do about it?
This research team have been working with members of the public to design a way to get patients involved in decisions regarding missing data. Together they created a set of resources, and a tool called “MIA”, which is designed to ask patients what they think we should do for the missing pieces.
What is the aim of this study?
This study aims to apply the solutions developed with the public to a real clinical trial called “INTERVAL”. This clinical trial was trying to determine how much time should be left between dental check-ups for adults to ensure they maintain their oral health. The study aims to assemble a group of people who are like those who took part in the trial, and to take them through a guided process to see what they think the missing data should’ve been. This group will be made up of members of the public like yourself, and support will be offered throughout by the research team.
This project is related to the PhD project of Sophie Greenwood - Eliciting and incorporating patients’ opinions about missing data in randomised controlled trials
Contacts
- Sophie Greenwood; s.greenwood.22@abdn.ac.uk