Review of Designs for Accommodating Patients’ or Physicians’ Preferences in Randomized Controlled Trials

The randomized controlled trial (RCT) is regarded as the principal way to collect scientific data on the efficacy of health interventions. Despite the advantages of RCT design in reducing extraneous variation that may confound interpretation of intervention results, the design may not be suitable for interventions in which patients are likely to have a strong preference for a particular treatment. Some designs incorporating patients or …