{"id":1189,"date":"2018-08-28T14:54:55","date_gmt":"2018-08-28T11:54:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.findmecure.com\/blog\/?p=1189"},"modified":"2018-09-05T15:28:00","modified_gmt":"2018-09-05T12:28:00","slug":"what-is-a-blinded-study-where-we-address-blinding-in-clinical-trials","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.findmecure.com\/blog\/what-is-a-blinded-study-where-we-address-blinding-in-clinical-trials\/","title":{"rendered":"What Is A Blinded Study? Where We Address Blinding In Clinical Trials"},"content":{"rendered":"

When it comes to clinical trials and medical research in general terminology can be a barrier, preventing patients from being as informed as they should be. Informed consent is a major part of taking part in a clinical trial, but in order to give your informed consent you must be in on the jargon used by researchers. <\/span><\/p>\n

We at FindMeCure<\/a> don\u2019t just want to inform you about your options and give you knowledge of what\u2019s going on in the world of medical advancements. We want to empower you to make your own decisions, to take your health in your own hands and be an active participant in your own recovery process. This is why being educated in the basics of clinical trials is so crucial. <\/span><\/p>\n

For some time now we’ve been posting about all sorts of things you might be interested in if choosing a clinical trial seems tricky because of the terms used for different kinds of trials. From the main purpose of a clinical trial<\/a> to the method of research used<\/a>, we’ve mostly covered the basics.<\/p>\n

We even talked about randomization in clinical trials<\/a> but until now we hadn’t really explained what ‘blinding’ means when it refers to the way a trial is conducted. Well, let us fill in the gap.<\/p>\n

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Blinded studies<\/span><\/p>\n

The 20th century was marked by scepticism and disillusionment. The great ideology of positivism and the belief that exact science was always accurate, measurable and unbiased tumbled down. Philosophers of epistemology (the \u2018how do we know what we know\u2019 branch of philosophy) theorized that even empirical data extracted from controlled lab experiments can be skewed. The belief that numbers speak for themselves no longer held water when one considered how the results can be interpreted in different ways by researchers supporting different hypotheses. <\/span><\/p>\n

As many of us know, there is no perfect method in science. However, there are some steps that can be taken in order to limit researchers from taking their own bias with them in the assessment of studies. <\/span><\/p>\n

And this is exactly what blinding is – a way to ensure more objective results as well as more unbiased analyses of said results. \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

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How is it done? <\/span><\/p>\n

A blinded clinical trial means that one or more parties are unaware of the treatment being received. Usually, it\u2019s the participants in the clinical trial that are \u201cblinded\u201d, meaning they don\u2019t know whether they are being treated with the drug in development or a placebo. A placebo is an inactive substance given to a control group in order to asses the real drug in testing. <\/span><\/p>\n

The logic behind \u201cblinding\u201d participants is that by not knowing whether they receive the drug or a placebo, the results they report are more authentic, since they\u2019re not influenced by the belief of what\u2019s supposed to happen to their bodies and how they\u2019re supposed to feel. <\/span><\/p>\n

Sometimes the staff administering the treatment, the physician responsible for the assessment of it or the people who interpret the results can be blinded too. By blinding the medical staff the team behind the clinical trial ensures that no one can accidentally reveal to the patients whether they\u2019re receiving the actual drug or are in the placebo control group. <\/span><\/p>\n

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Types of blinding <\/span><\/p>\n

So, there you go, now you know what blinding in clinical trials means. But what exactly is a double-blind clinical trial? And who is blinded in a single-blind study? Naturally, the types of blinded studies depend on the number of parties blinded. If everyone is aware of who gets what kind of treatment, the study is called unblinded or open label. <\/span><\/p>\n

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