Untitled

Abstract

In this commentary on Fries and Krishnan's argument that 'design bias' undermines the status of equipoise as the ethical justification for randomised controlled trials, it is argued that their argument is analogous to Bayesian arguments for the use of informative priors in trial design, but that this does not undermine the importance of equipoise. In particular, mismatches between the outcomes of interest to industrial sponsors of research and outcomes of interest to patients and clinicians ensure that in many cases industry-sponsored trials can fail to reflect the reasonable equipoise of working clinicians.

The midwifery initiated oral health-dental service protocol: an intervention to improve oral health outcomes for pregnant women

“…To minimise any distress among pregnant women and maintain equipoise [ 30 ], oral health promotion material are provided via the dental assistant at recruitment to all trial participants. Women who refuse to participate are also provided with oral health promotional material.…”