The Additional Benefit of Using Confidence Intervals

The process of determining clinical relevance is not as straight-forward as determining statistical significance. For any set of data, statistical significance can 

In this example of a group difference of 3 mmHg, development would probably not continue. However, at what point would a decision to continue likely be made This leads to another question What is the smallest effect size that is clinically meaningful, or clinically relevant This effect size can be called the clinically relevant difference (CRD). Its determination is a clinical one, not a statistical one. This determination may well be strongly influenced by existing empirical evidence (for example, actuarial statistics), but, unlike statistical significance, its determination is not simply formulaic. 

New Drug Development Design, Methodology, and Analysis. By J. Rick Turner Copyright 2007 John Wiley Sons, Inc. 

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