ArticlePersonalized medicine2011
The n-of-1 clinical trial: the ultimate strategy for individualizing medicine?
Article in Personalized medicine, 2011. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. It is linked to 3 registered trials, which are not on this map. Cited by 305 papers, 4 of them syntheses that pooled it.
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.
Intravenous Immunoglobulin for Unverricht-Lundborg Disease: Single-patient Trial.
Effectiveness of Conservative Multimodal Physiotherapy in Chronic Whiplash-associated Disorders With Facet-mediated Pain Undergoing Platelet Rich Plasma (PRP) Treatment: a Series of Single Case Experimental Designs (SCEDs).
N-of-1 Trial Comparing Prolonged Gastric Feeding to Transpyloric Feeding in Infants with Severe Bronchopulmonary Dysplasia
Who cites it
305 citing papers in PubMed, 4 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.
- Pooled it
- Organoids in the Clinic: A Systematic Review of Outcomes.Cells, tissues, organs · 2023Pooled it
- Footwear and insole design features that reduce neuropathic plantar forefoot ulcer risk in people with diabetes: a systematic literature review.Journal of foot and ankle research · 2020Pooled it
- Acupuncture versus propranolol in migraine prophylaxis: an indirect treatment comparison meta-analysis.Journal of neurology · 2020Pooled it
- Trial
- Albuminuria Responses to Dapagliflozin in Patients With Type 2 Diabetes: A Crossover Trial.JAMA network open · 2025Trial
- Chair-based yoga programme for older adults with multimorbidity: RCT with embedded economic and process evaluations.Health technology assessment (Winchester, England) · 2024Trial
- N-of-1 Trials vs. Usual Care in Children With Hypertension: A Pilot Randomized Clinical Trial.American journal of hypertension · 2023Trial
- Patient preference for second- and third-line therapies in type 2 diabetes: a prespecified secondary endpoint of the TriMaster study.Nature medicine · 2023Trial
- "Asking Too Much?": Randomized N-of-1 Trial Exploring Patient Preferences and Measurement Reactivity to Frequent Use of Remote Multidimensional Pain Assessments in Children and Young People With Juvenile Idiopathic Arthritis.Journal of medical Internet research · 2020Trial
- Treating Hypertension in Children WithPediatrics · 2019Trial
- A Randomized Placebo-ControlledCanadian journal of gastroenterology & hepatology · 2019Trial
- Personalized Classification of Scenario-Derived Operational Driver-State Classes from Non-Intrusive Wearable Signals in Real-World SAE Level 2 Automated Driving.Sensors (Basel, Switzerland) · 2026Article
- First-in-human to proof-of-concept: why experimental medicine studies remain essential in human physiology and drug development.Pflugers Archiv : European journal of physiology · 2026Review
- Digital Health as an Enabler of Personalized Medicine in Ghana: Gaps, Opportunities, and Future Directions.Journal of medical Internet research · 2026Article
- N-of-1 trials in clinical research: Methodological foundations, statistical approaches and implementation challenges.British journal of clinical pharmacology · 2026Review
- Randomised controlled trials and iNPH.Fluids and barriers of the CNS · 2026Article
- Study protocol for PIANo-1: Personalized Investigation of music's effect on Attention in a series of N-of-1 trials.Contemporary clinical trials communications · 2026Article
- Gut Microbial Composition, Oxidative Stress, and Immunity in Metabolic Disease: Toward Personalized Interventions.Antioxidants (Basel, Switzerland) · 2026Review
- Individual-centric N-of-1 trials: a case study assessing the effect of alcohol abstinence on mood levels.BMC medical research methodology · 2026Article
245 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
6 authors.
Funding
Abstract
N-of-1 or single subject clinical trials consider an individual patient as the sole unit of observation in a study investigating the efficacy or side-effect profiles of different interventions. The ultimate goal of an n-of-1 trial is to determine the optimal or best intervention for an individual patient using objective data-driven criteria. Such trials can leverage study design and statistical techniques associated with standard population-based clinical trials, including randomization, washout and crossover periods, as well as placebo controls. Despite their obvious appeal and wide use in educational settings, n-of-1 trials have been used sparingly in medical and general clinical settings. We briefly review the history, motivation and design of n-of-1 trials and emphasize the great utility of modern wireless medical monitoring devices in their execution. We ultimately argue that n-of-1 trials demand serious attention among the health research and clinical care communities given the contemporary focus on individualized medicine.
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.