[V: p values: what they do tell and what they don't...]

Area of Science:

• Clinical trial reporting
• Biostatistics
• Medical research evaluation

Context:

• Clinical trial reports must include comprehensive data descriptions and statistical significance assessments.
• Study findings may not always reflect real-world clinical scenarios due to random patient recruitment.
• Ensuring generalizability of trial results to broader patient populations is crucial.

Purpose:

• To emphasize the necessity of presenting both clinical relevance and statistical significance in clinical trial results.
• To propose novel compact table structures for simultaneously displaying clinical relevance and statistical significance.
• To improve the interpretability and applicability of clinical trial findings.

Summary:

• Clinical trial results require reporting of both clinical relevance (e.g., median differences, risks) and statistical significance (p-value).
• Statistical significance indicates the reliability of findings against random chance, while clinical relevance assesses practical impact.
• The proposed tables aim to integrate these two essential components within the results and discussion sections of trial reports.

Impact:

• Enhances the clarity and completeness of clinical trial reporting.
• Facilitates better understanding of study generalizability and clinical applicability.
• Aids researchers and clinicians in making informed decisions based on trial outcomes.