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What is an important study result?

RUNSAFE and collaborators contribute with a thought-provoking discussion about minimal important difference in a BJSM-editorial.

17.05.2017 | Rasmus Østergaard Nielsen

How do you know if the results of a particular study are important to your team, your patients or your community? A result that is statistically significant is not necessarily a meaningful target for sports injury prevention or a treatment strategy. And if statistical significance is not enough to determine ‘importance’ or meaningfulness, then what is?

We try to provide an answer in an 800-word BJSM editorial. Here, we encourage researchers to emphasize the use of absolute measures of association. In addition, we contend that it is inappropriate to draw conclusions based purely on the rela­tive risk, since that statistic does not consider the absolute number of injuries.

Read more?

Click here to locate the Editorial

 

Reference

Nielsen R.O.; Bertelsen, M.B.; Verhagen, E.; Mansournia, M.A; Hulme, A.; Møller, M.; Casals, M.
When is a study result important for athletes, clinicians and team coaches/staff?
Br J Sports Med, 2017: In press. 

Forskning, Alle grupper, Runsafe, Runsafe, Uddannelse