Why are physicians so skeptical about positive randomized controlled clinical trials in critical care medicine?

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

Who cites it

11 citing papers in PubMed.

1. ARDS Subphenotypes as a Guide to Therapy and Enrollment into Therapeutic Trials: Not So Fast.Journal of clinical medicine · 2025
   Article
2. Redefining ARDS: a paradigm shift.Critical care (London, England) · 2023
   Review
3. Clinical relevance of timing of assessment of ICU mortality in patients with moderate-to-severe Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome.Scientific reports · 2023
   Article
4. Respiratory Subsets in Patients with Moderate to Severe Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome for Early Prediction of Death.Journal of clinical medicine · 2022
   Review
5. Unsuccessful and Successful Clinical Trials in Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome: Addressing Physiology-Based Gaps.Frontiers in physiology · 2021
   Review
6. Clinical trials in patients with the acute respiratory distress syndrome: burn after reading.Intensive care medicine · 2014
   Article
7. Lessons for successful study enrollment from the Veterans Affairs/National Institutes of Health Acute Renal Failure Trial Network Study.Clinical journal of the American Society of Nephrology : CJASN · 2008
   Article
8. Effects of a clinical trial on mechanical ventilation practices in patients with acute lung injury.American journal of respiratory and critical care medicine · 2008
   Article
9. Intensive care unit exposures for long-term outcomes research: development and description of exposures for 150 patients with acute lung injury.Journal of critical care · 2007
   Article
10. Mechanical ventilation with lower tidal volumes does not influence the prescription of opioids or sedatives.Critical care (London, England) · 2007
    Article
11. Activated protein C: do more survive?Intensive care medicine · 2005
    Article

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

Authors and funding

4 authors.

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

Abstract

PubMed holds no abstract for this paper.

Indexed as