Journal Article

Composite endpoints

Palileo-Villanueva, Lia M., Dans, Antonio L.

2020

Overview

Studies often combine several events, for example, death or myocardial infarction or stroke, into a single study outcome. This is called a composite endpoint. Composite endpoints make doing trials easier by reducing the sample size or follow-up period required to demonstrate the effectiveness of an intervention. However, interpreting the results of composite endpoints can be confusing. To avoid misleading conclusions about the effectiveness of an intervention, it is important for readers of studies reporting a composite endpoint to ascertain that the clinical importance, the frequency of events, and the effect of the intervention on each component of the composite endpoint are similar. •Studies often combine several events into a single study outcome, the composite endpoint.•Using composite endpoints reduces the sample size or follow-up period required to demonstrate the effectiveness of an intervention.•To avoid misleading conclusions about the effectiveness of an intervention, it is important to ascertain that the clinical importance, the frequency of events, and the effect of the intervention on each component of the composite endpoint are similar.

• Publisher: Elsevier Inc,Elsevier Limited
• Subject: Cerebral infarction / Clinical trial / Clinical trials / Composite endpoint / Diabetes / Endpoint Determination - methods / Epidemiologic Research Design / Epidemiology / Heart attacks / Humans / Internal Medicine / Myocardial infarction / Primary endpoint / randomized controlled trial, Outcome measures / Sample Size / Treatment effect