Baseline testing in cluster randomised controlled trials: should this be done?

BMC Med Res Methodol · 2019 · PMC6524320 · PMID 31101078

Europe PMC DOI

hedged sentences

0.0230

closest p · 0.5× alpha

0.0230

boldest claim

The sentences

marginally statistically significantp = 0.023actually significant

1 we have calculated baseline p values and with over 20 calculations only one (age) was marginally statistically significant ( p = 0.023); thus suggesting selection bias in this trial was unlikely.

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highly significantno p-value reported

1 shows of the 10 p values calculated six are statistically significant with five of these being highly significant.

also in 132,142 other papers

Quoted from the open-access full text in Europe PMC under the licence the publisher applied. The sentence is reproduced exactly as published; the emphasis is ours.