Clinical trials are experiments or observations used as part of clinical research. These trials are designed with specific questions in mind and can be a helpful way to answer questions or direct studies towards other areas of research. Clinical research is vital for the advancement of medical knowledge and clinical trials are part of the framework used to do this.
In this article, we’re going to look at what local clinical trials are, the different types of clinical trials, and discuss the importance of clinical studies.
What Is a Clinical Study?
A clinical study is medical research that uses human participants to grow our medical knowledge in a certain area. Clinical studies are segmented into two different types which are clinical trials and observational studies.
What Is a Clinical Trial?
A clinical trial is a type of clinical research that involves participants who receive interventions that have been outlined in a research plan or protocol. The interventions can take many different forms depending on the study, from medication to changes in an individual’s behavior, such as a change in diet.
Clinical trials are a useful way to compare different medical approaches to determine the best treatment options. These trials might compare new drugs or techniques with existing ones, or they might use a placebo with no active ingredients to see how effective actual treatments may be. In some cases, there may be no intervention at all.
When studying a new technique, service, approach, or product, researchers usually don’t know how effective it may be. The whole concept of a clinical trial is to establish whether or not a new treatment or product is more effective than existing ones.
What Is an Observational Study?
The other side of clinical research is an observational study, which has researchers assess the health outcomes of participants based on a research plan. A participant may receive interventions or procedures during standard medical care, but the researcher doesn’t assign any specific interventions as part of the study. This is markedly different from clinical trials, which do provide specific preventions.
Why Are Clinical Studies Important?
Clinical trials are a core component of clinical studies, which are used to grow our medical knowledge. This can help with the treatment, diagnosis, and prevention of a wide variety of conditions, illnesses, and diseases. There are lots of reasons why clinical studies are important, but the main reasons that clinical studies are performed include:
- The ability to evaluate multiple interventions such as medication, equipment, or techniques when treating a disease, illness, or condition.
- It helps us find new ways to prevent diseases from progressing and improves the quality of life for individuals with illnesses. This can include new medicines, vaccines, or other techniques that can improve health and wellbeing.
- It allows us to evaluate different interventions that can be used to identify or diagnose specific diseases or illnesses.
- It’s a useful way to explore new ways of improving comfort levels and quality of life for people dealing with chronic illnesses.