Confounding (40 Patients)

Abstract

If in a parallel-group trial the patient characteristics are equally distributed between the two treatment groups, then any difference in outcome can be attributed to the different effects of the treatments. However, if not, we have a problem. The difference between the treatment groups may be due, not only to the treatments given, but also to differences in characteristics between the two treatment groups. The latter differences are called confounders or confounding variables. Assessment for confounding is explained.