Blinding (or masking) refers to withholding knowledge about treatment assignment from subjects and/ or investigators in order to prevent bias in assessment of subjective outcomes, such as pain relief.
What is blinding and masking in clinical trials?
Masking (or blinding) of treatment assignment is routinely implemented in classical randomized clinical trials (RCTs) to isolate the effect of the intervention itself and to minimize the potential for bias that could occur with traditional trials.
What is the difference between masking and blinding?
“Masking” (or “blinding”) refers to the steps taken to ensure that all persons involved in a trial are unaware of the type of treatment that each participant receives . ... Blinding can also be extended to include other personnel and data analysts.
What is an example of blinding?
Blinding, or double-blinding, is when a patient does not know what treatment they are receiving . They could be getting either a placebo or the real drug. ... For example, patients might know they are involved in a trial for arthritis, but they will not know the name of the brand name in the trial.
What types of blinding are carried out?
| Type Description | Single blind or single-masked Only the participant is unaware of the treatment they receive | Double blind or double-masked The participant and the clinicians / data collectors are unaware of the treatment the participant receives |
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Why is blinding not possible?
In many such studies blinding is impossible because exposure can be discovered only by interviewing the study participants , who obviously know whether or not they are a case.
Are all RCTs blinded?
Although blinding may not be feasible in all RCTs , it is especially important that it be implemented when the outcome is subjective (e.g., pain or energy level). ... The nature of the intervention determines the level of blinding possible.
What is the purpose of blinding?
Blinding of one or more parties is done to prevent observer bias . This refers to the fact that most (if not all) researchers will have some expectations regarding the effectiveness of an intervention. Blinding of observers provides a strategy to minimize this form of bias.
What does single blinding prevent?
In a single blind study, the participants in the clinical trial do not know if they are receiving the placebo or the real treatment. This is done to reduce the risk of errors , since some participants might produce spurious results if they know that they are taking the placebo or medication.
What is the blinding method?
An additional tool that is also used to make trials more precise is “blinding.” Blinding involves taking steps to prevent patients, doctors, or other people involved in the trial (e.g., those people recording measurements) from finding out which patients got what treatment.
How do you get blinding?
- If possible, do not inform patients of what group they are in.
- Conceal incisions and scars.
- Use independent outcome assessors.
- Alter digital radiographs or images.
What is blinding in pharmacy?
Blinding in clinical trials refers to the process of withholding information about the assigned treatment from specific groups of individuals .
How do you blind RCT?
One of the most common methods of blinding in RCTs is the use of seemingly identical medications ; one ‘active’ pill and one ‘placebo’ pill. As they are physically identical, it is impossible for patients and researchers to discern which pill is the active one based on appearance alone.
How does blinding reduce bias?
Blinding aims to reduce the risk of bias that can be caused by an awareness of group assignment . With blinding, out- comes can be attributed to the intervention itself and not influenced by behaviour or assessment of outcomes that can result purely from knowledge of group allocation. ... Blinding is not a simple procedure.
What is triple blinding in RCT?
3. Triple blinding: ... In triple blinding, the study participant, the data investigator or data collector and the data analyzer- all are blinded . Only the Principle Investigator of the research might know about the trial– may it be treatment, drugs or so on.
Is blinding always possible in RCT?
Background. Blinding is a measure in randomized controlled trials (RCT) to reduce detection and performance bias. There is evidence that lack of blinding leads to overestimated treatment effects. Because of the physical component of interventions, blinding is not easily applicable in surgical trials .
