A new medicine was developed for patients who experience repeated muscle spasms.
In a clinical trial, 600 patients were allocated at random to receive either the new medicine or a treatment already in use. The treatments were provided as identical-looking tablets. Neither the patients nor the doctors knew which treatment each patient received.
The table shows the results after four weeks of treatment.
| Treatment | Number of patients | Mean number of muscle spasms per patient per day before treatment | Mean number of muscle spasms per patient per day during treatment | Number of patients who reported at least one side effect |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| New medicine | 360 | 12.0 | 5.4 | 54 |
| Treatment already in use | 240 | 11.8 | 7.1 | 12 |
The developers expect the new medicine to cause more side effects than the treatment already in use.
A researcher proposes telling the doctors which treatment each patient receives before the doctors decide whether reported symptoms should be recorded as side effects. The patients would still not know which treatment they receive.
Explain how this change would affect the interpretation of the side-effect results.
Explain whether the evidence from this trial supports using the new medicine instead of the treatment already in use.
252 exam-style questions on AQA GCSE Biology 3.1 Communicable diseases, covering 3.1.1 Communicable (infectious) diseases, 3.1.2 Viral diseases, 3.1.3 Bacterial diseases, 3.1.4 Fungal diseases, 3.1.5 Protist diseases, 3.1.6 Human defence systems, 3.1.7 Vaccination, 3.1.8 Antibiotics and painkillers, and 3.1.9 Discovery and development of drugs. Each one has a worked solution and a mark scheme showing where the marks go.