Interpreting P values in clinical research: A practical guide for clinicians
Related Experiment Video
Updated: Nov 2, 2026

A Detailed Protocol for Physiological Parameters Acquisition and Analysis in Neurosurgical Critical Patients
Published on: October 17, 2017
Alp Şener1,2
1Department of Emergency Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, Yıldırım Beyazıt University, Ankara, Türkiye.
Abstract:
Accurate interpretation of medical literature is essential for evidence-based clinical practice. Among statistical measures, the P value remains one of the most frequently used and most frequently misunderstood concepts in clinical research. Conventionally, a P < 0.05 was considered the primary criterion for determining statistical significance. However, reliance on this threshold alone may lead to overestimation of clinically unimportant findings or failure to recognize clinically meaningful effects in underpowered studies. Recent recommendations emphasize the importance of interpreting P values together with confidence intervals, effect sizes, and study design characteristics. This review discusses the basic principles of P values, common misconceptions, statistical errors, practices that threaten scientific validity, and complementary statistical approaches that can improve clinical interpretation. The aim is to provide clinicians and researchers with a practical framework for evaluating statistical findings in medical studies.
Related Concept Videos
Types of Biopharmaceutical Studies: Controlled and Non-Controlled Approaches
Non-controlled studies, commonly employed for initial exploration, lack a control group, rendering them susceptible to biases and external influences. In contrast, controlled...
Methods of Documentation III: PIE
Clinical Trials
There are four phases in a clinical trial. A phase one...
Therapeutic Index
Bioequivalence Data: Statistical Interpretation
Patient-centered Care

