Docetaxel with prednisone or prednisolone for the treatment of ...

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Glossary and list of abbreviations
Glossary continued
Complete response The total disappearance
of all detectable malignant disease for at least
4 weeks.
Confidence interval A measure of precision
of statistical estimate.
Confounding (1) The masking of an actual
association or (2) false demonstration of an
apparent association between the study
variables when no real association between
them exists.
Cost–benefit analysis An attempt to give the
consequences of the alternative interventions a
monetary value. In this way, the consequences
can be more easily compared with the costs of
the intervention. This involves measuring
individuals’ ‘willingness to pay’ for given
outcomes, and can be difficult.
Cost-effectiveness analysis The
consequences of the alternatives are measured
in natural units, such as years of life gained.
The consequences are not given a monetary
value.
Cost-effectiveness acceptability curve A
graphical representation of the probability of
an intervention being cost-effective over a
range of monetary values for society’s
willingness to pay for an additional unit of
health gain.
Cost-minimisation analysis When two
alternatives are found to have equal efficacy or
outcomes (consequences). Therefore, the only
difference between the two is cost. This is
sometimes considered to be a subtype of costeffectiveness
analysis.
Cost–utility analysis The consequences of
alternatives are measured in ‘health state
preferences’, which are given a weighting score.
In this type of analysis, different consequences
are valued in comparison with each other, and
the outcomes (e.g. life-years gained) are
adjusted by the weighting assigned. In this way,
an attempt is made to value the quality of life
associated with the outcome so that life-years
gained become quality-adjusted life-years
gained.
Coumadin An anticoagulant.
Cycle Chemotherapy is usually administered
at regular intervals. A cycle is a course of
chemotherapy followed by a period in which
the body recovers from the adverse events of
the drug(s).
Cytotoxic Toxic to cells. This term is used to
describe drugs that kill cancer cells or slow
their growth.
Dyspnoea Difficult or laboured breathing,
shortness of breath.
ECOG performance status
0: Fully active, able to carry on all predisease
performance without restriction.
1: Restricted in physically strenuous activity
but ambulatory and able to carry out work
of a light or sedentary nature, e.g. light
house work, office work.
2: Ambulatory and capable of all self-care but
unable to carry out any work activities. Up
and about more than 50% of waking hours.
3: Capable of only limited self-care, confined
to bed or chair more than 50% of waking
hours.
4: Completely disabled. Cannot carry on any
self-care. Totally confined to bed or chair.
5: Dead.
End-point A clearly defined outcome or
event associated with an individual in a
medical investigation.
EORTC The European Organization for
Research and Treatment of Cancer (EORTC) is
an organisation set up to conduct, develop,
coordinate and stimulate laboratory and
clinical research in Europe to improve the
management of cancer and related problems by
increasing survival but also quality of life of
patients.
Epistaxis Nose bleed.
External validity The ability to generalise
the results from a particular experiment to a
larger population.
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