Card 25

Question 1 Methodology of clinical trials

1. Explain use of clinical trials for medical research

Clinical trials are used to test the efficacy of new drugs or
interventions & its effects on the human body using human subjects
2. Randomization of subjects in clinical trail & its purposes
a. Technique of random allocation maybe by:
i. Coin toss
ii. Dice toss
iii. Drawing lots
iv. Use of a special random number tables to generate
pseudo-random (e.g. Kendall & Babington Smith)
b. Purpose of randomization is to provide comparison between
variables to demonstrate the efficacy & effects of the tested
treatment
3. Blindness & its purposes
a. Blindness is when a data is analyzed by an independent party or
obtained from test subjects without prior knowledge about the
variables
b. This is to eliminate any bias that may arise due to researcher
expectations or emotions
c. This ensures that the data is examined & presented with
accuracy
4. Controlled group: concurrent, retrospective, self-controls
a. Concurrent when researcher follows up the patient from start
to its current development
b. Retrospective when researcher follows the patient history
from the present state of disease
c. Self-controls when patient current condition is compared with
a researchers condition
5. Meta-analysis & its benefits
Meta-analysis is the combination of results of several studies on
different independent variables that addresses a set of related research
hypothesis
It is not restricted in studies where variables maybe defined as
dependent
Same data variable set is applicable for different studies
Question 2 Reproductive health & medical demography

1. Use of demographic information for health care purposes

a. Determining the size & type of healthcare system to implement
b. Organizing vaccination / screening programs
c. Estimation of doctor:patient ratio
d. Estimating population changes
2. Demographic characteristics of the population
a. Population size
b. Composition of population
c. Distribution of population in space
d. 5 processes of population
i. Fertility
ii. Mortality
iii. Marriage
iv. Migration
v. Social mobility
3. Describe the differences in health according to demographic
parameters
The type of services needed are determined by :
i. Age structure
ii. Sex ratio
iii. Density of population
iv. Family size
v. Growing urbanization
vi. Literacy
vii. Life expectancy
viii. Social class structure
4. Contraception prevalence. Determinants of contraceptive use
a. Prevalence is about 80% globally
b. Highest use is ages 25-35 years
c. Relatively low use in < 20 years
d. Contries with low use about 20-25%
e. Determinants of use
i. Religion / culture
ii. Family size
iii. Socioeconomic status
iv. Maternal health
5. Criteria for evaluation of contraceptive methods : safety, efficacy,
accessibility, reversibility, affordability
a. Safety minimal side effects
i. Condom
ii. Natural contraception withdraw, calender
iii. IUDs / surgery some side effects
b. Efficacy effectiveness of the method
i. Determine by a sample of 100 couples using method
correctly
ii. After a year determine number of pregnant mothers
iii. From failure rate, calculate efficacy rate
c. Reversibility the ease of restoration of fertility
d. Affordability the cost of method
i. Condom is cheapest
ii. Oral contraceptive is expensive
e. Accessibility availability to public especially teens
i. Condom most easily accessible
ii. Oral contraceptive may require prescription
iii. IUD & sterilization requires doctor