Major concerns about late hypothermia study

Why results from Bayesian statistical analyses of clinical trials with a strong prior and small sample sizes may be misleading The case of the NICHD Neonatal Research Network Late Hypothermia Trial

“…We would like to thank Laptook et al. for their response to our ‘Major concerns about late hypothermia study’ . However, their response suggests that the difference between their opinion and ours arises because we are using frequentist statistics and they are using Bayesian.…”

“…The close proximity of these two estimates can be assessed in several ways, including a p-value far above the customary levels for significance (p = 0.75), and a confidence curve with the value rr = 1 in the middle with a 95 per cent confidence interval (0.51, 1.48) (see Fig. 1 in our previous communication (2)).…”

Highlights in this issue

“…In their response to that commentary, Walløe et al. express concern that the strong conclusions presented by Bourque and Dietz are not supported by the findings and could lead to a relaxation of the current strong requirement that babies should be cooled as soon as possible after birth. Laptook et al.…”

Start cooling as soon as possible

“…Thank you for your supportive comments on our letter , regards statistical interpretation of the Laptook et al. paper publishing a trial on delayed therapeutic hypothermia (TH) treatment which you supported .…”