Intended for healthcare professionals

  1. Education
  2. Understanding...
  3. Understanding controlled trials: What are pragmatic trials?
Clinical Review

Understanding controlled trials: What are pragmatic trials?

BMJ 1998; 316 doi: https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj.316.7127.285 (Published 24 January 1998) Cite this as: BMJ 1998;316:285

Related articles

See more

Cited by...

  • Lee Silverman voice treatment versus NHS speech and language therapy versus control for dysarthria in people with Parkinsons disease (PD COMM): pragmatic, UK based, multicentre, three arm, parallel group, unblinded, randomised controlled trial
  • Rehabilitation in Survivors of COVID-19 (RE2SCUE): a non-randomized, controlled and open study
  • Light acupuncture and five-element music therapy for nurses mental health and well-being during and post-COVID-19: protocol for a randomised cross-over feasibility study
  • Pragmatic cluster randomised control trial using Vaxcards as an age-appropriate tool to incentivise and educate school students about vaccination
  • Effects of a waiting list control design on alcohol consumption among online help-seekers: protocol for a randomised controlled trial
  • Evaluation of the Effect of Diabetes on Rheumatoid Arthritis-related Outcomes in an Electronic Health Record-based Rheumatology Registry
  • STEP.De study--a multicentre cluster-randomised effectiveness trial of exercise therapy for patients with depressive symptoms in healthcare services: study protocol
  • Scleroderma Patient-centered Intervention Network--Scleroderma Support group Leader EDucation (SPIN-SSLED) program: non-randomised feasibility trial
  • User-centred clinical decision support to implement emergency department-initiated buprenorphine for opioid use disorder: protocol for the pragmatic group randomised EMBED trial
  • Doctor Referral of Overweight People to Low Energy total diet replacement Treatment (DROPLET): pragmatic randomised controlled trial
  • How good are GPs at adhering to a pragmatic trial protocol in primary care? Results from the ADDITION-Cambridge cluster-randomised pragmatic trial
  • IMPACT: Investigating the impact of Models of Practice for Allied health Care in subacuTe settings. A protocol for a quasi-experimental mixed methods study of cost effectiveness and outcomes for patients exposed to different models of allied health care
  • Development and Validation of MRI Sacroiliac Joint Scoring Methods for the Semiaxial Scan Plane Corresponding to the Berlin and SPARCC MRI Scoring Methods, and of a New Global MRI Sacroiliac Joint Method
  • Complementary Initiatives from the NIDDK to Advance Kidney Health
  • Open reduction and internal fixation of humeral shaft fractures versus conservative treatment with a functional brace: a study protocol of a randomised controlled trial embedded in a cohort
  • Ultrasound imaging to tailor the treatment of acute shoulder pain: a randomised controlled trial in general practice
  • No differences between operative and non-operative treatments of proximal humerus fractures
  • Designing Clinical Trials for New Drugs: Ethics, Governance, and Reputational Challenges
  • Oral Anticancer Drugs: How Limited Dosing Options and Dose Reductions May Affect Outcomes in Comparative Trials and Efficacy in Patients
  • Effectiveness of the Quadrivalent Human Papillomavirus Vaccine Against Cervical Dysplasia in Manitoba, Canada
  • Preventing the Voltage Drop: Keeping Practice-based Research Network (PBRN) Practices Engaged in Studies
  • Minimal access surgery compared with medical management for gastro-oesophageal reflux disease: five year follow-up of a randomised controlled trial (REFLUX)
  • Finnish Degenerative Meniscal Lesion Study (FIDELITY): a protocol for a randomised, placebo surgery controlled trial on the efficacy of arthroscopic partial meniscectomy for patients with degenerative meniscus injury with a novel ''RCT within-a-cohort'' study design
  • Effect of iron supplementation on fatigue in nonanemic menstruating women with low ferritin: a randomized controlled trial
  • Filmed v. live social contact interventions to reduce stigma: randomised controlled trial
  • Effectiveness of dementia follow-up care by memory clinics or general practitioners: randomised controlled trial
  • A Prospective Randomized Controlled Trial of Dynamic Versus Static Progressive Elbow Splinting for Posttraumatic Elbow Stiffness
  • Brief psychodynamic interpersonal psychotherapy for patients with multisomatoform disorder: randomised controlled trial
  • How Comparative Effectiveness Research Can Help Advance 'Personalized Medicine' In Cancer Treatment
  • Patellar Resurfacing in Total Knee Replacement: Five-Year Clinical and Economic Results of a Large Randomized Controlled Trial
  • Charlotte Paterson and colleagues respond to Margaret McCartney
  • Acupuncture for 'frequent attenders with medically unexplained symptoms: a randomised controlled trial (CACTUS study)
  • The Critical Role Of Observational Evidence In Comparative Effectiveness Research
  • Nurse led interventions to improve control of blood pressure in people with hypertension: systematic review and meta-analysis
  • How usual is usual care in pragmatic intervention studies in primary care? An overview of recent trials
  • Exercise therapy after corticosteroid injection for moderate to severe shoulder pain: large pragmatic randomised trial
  • Uncertainty in Assessing Value of Oncology Treatments
  • Positive Effects of a Nursing Intervention on Family-Centered Care in Adult Critical Care
  • Home versus outpatient ultraviolet B phototherapy for mild to severe psoriasis: pragmatic multicentre randomised controlled non-inferiority trial (PLUTO study)
  • Effect of point of care testing for C reactive protein and training in communication skills on antibiotic use in lower respiratory tract infections: cluster randomised trial
  • Improving the reporting of pragmatic trials: an extension of the CONSORT statement
  • Motivational interviewing for modifying diabetes risk: a randomised controlled trial
  • Nortriptyline plus nicotine replacement versus placebo plus nicotine replacement for smoking cessation: pragmatic randomised controlled trial
  • Helicobacter pylori test and treat versus proton pump inhibitor in initial management of dyspepsia in primary care: multicentre randomised controlled trial (MRC-CUBE trial)
  • How about a career in academic general practice?
  • Suicidal behaviour and mortality in first-episode psychosis: the OPUS trial
  • Measurement of long-term outcomes in observational and randomised controlled trials
  • Probiotics for pediatric antibiotic-associated diarrhea: a meta-analysis of randomized placebo-controlled trials.
  • A randomised multicentre trial of integrated versus standard treatment for patients with a first episode of psychotic illness
  • Midazolam sedates agitated patients more rapidly than haloperidol-promethazine
  • In Reply:
  • A cluster randomised controlled trial of smoking cessation in pregnant women comparing interventions based on the transtheoretical (stages of change) model to standard care
  • Stepping down inhaled corticosteroids in asthma: randomised controlled trial
  • Effectiveness of anticholinergic drugs compared with placebo in the treatment of overactive bladder: systematic review
  • Effectiveness of oral moxifloxacin in standard first-line therapy in community-acquired pneumonia
  • The pragmatic randomised controlled trial
  • Using high quality clinical databases to complement the results of randomised controlled trials: the case of recombinant human activated protein C
  • Randomised controlled trials in primary care: case study
  • How should cost data in pragmatic randomised trials be analysed?
  • Drug treatments for schizophrenia
  • What is meant by intention to treat analysis? Survey of published randomised controlled trials
  • Systems and strategies for managing the drugs budget in Glasgow
  • Understanding controlled trials: What outcomes should be measured?
Back to top