Multicenter trial

A multicenter research trial is a clinical trial conducted at more than one medical center or clinic. Most large clinical trials, particularly Phase III trials, are conducted at several clinical research centers.

Benefits

The benefits of multicenter trials include a larger number of participants, different geographic locations, the possibility of inclusion of a wider range of population groups, and the ability to compare results among centers, all of which increase the generalizability of the study. In many cases, efficacy will vary significantly between population groups with different genetic, environmental, and ethnic or cultural backgrounds ("demographic" factors); normally only geographically dispersed trials can properly evaluate this.

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Clinical research and experimental design

Overview	Clinical trial Trial protocols Adaptive clinical trial Academic clinical trials Clinical study design

Controlled study (EBM I to II-1; A to B)	Randomized controlled trial Scientific experiment Blind experiment Open-label trial

Observational study (EBM II-2 to II-3; B to C)	Cross-sectional study vs. Longitudinal study, Ecological study Cohort study Retrospective Prospective Case-control study (Nested case-control study) Case series Case study Case report

Epidemiology/ methods	occurrence: Incidence (Cumulative incidence) Prevalence Point Period association: absolute (Absolute risk reduction, Attributable risk, Attributable risk percent) relative (Relative risk, Odds ratio, Hazard ratio) other: Clinical endpoint Virulence Infectivity Mortality rate Morbidity Case fatality rate Specificity and sensitivity Likelihood-ratios Pre/post-test probability

Trial/test types	In vitro In vivo Animal testing Animal testing on non-human primates First-in-man study Multicenter trial Seeding trial Vaccine trial

Analysis of clinical trials	Risk–benefit ratio Systematic review Replication Meta-analysis

Interpretation of results	Selection bias Survivorship bias Correlation does not imply causation Null result

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