Blog-posts

Suppose you hear about a randomised controlled trial of treatments for patients with acute coronary syndrome (an umbrella term for conditions involving sudden, reduced blood flow to the heart), involving tens of thousands of people, and making use of high-quality registry data (something a bit like the SWITCH-SWEDEHEART trial,[1] for example). This study concludes that … Read more Stepped wedge trials with small numbers of clusters: can we trust the evidence?

On a pervasive misconception: that we do a stepped wedge trial because we want all of the sites in the trial to end up getting the intervention.

If stepped wedge trials rely so much on clusters acting as “their own controls”, doesn’t this amount to a (non-randomised) before-and-after study design?

Why would you choose a stepped wedge design in particular in a given situation, in place of something … I dont know … simpler?

Stepped wedge trials vary widely in design, but since I can’t resist a typology this post describes three common types of stepped wedge trial.

The first ever stepped wedge trial is also the longest running. This post tells the story of the Gambia Hepatitis Intervention Study.

A beginner’s guide to stepped wedge trials, their rapid rise, and some of the myths and confusions that continue to surround them.

Randomised controlled trials have had a huge impact on the delivery of health services. But what are they and what makes them so important?