[Paired samples in health research: methodological foundations and clinical applications]

The paired Student's t test is a statistical tool widely used in the clinical setting to assess changes between two related measurements performed in the same patient. The objective of this article is to review, from a practical approach, its main assumptions, advantages, and limitations, as well as to illustrate its application through a clinical example. For this purpose, data from a study conducted in patients with obesity were analyzed using the SPSS program. The pairing of observations, normality of the differences, absence of outliers, and independence between pairs were previously verified. The results showed a significant and clinically relevant reduction in body mass index (BMI), with a large effect size. In this way, the paired t test is considered a simple, robust, and particularly useful technique in primary care to assess the impact of clinical interventions in pre-post studies.