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

Glossary
Absolute risk reduction The difference
between the event rates in the two groups; if
the adverse event rate is less in the
intervention group, this suggests that the
intervention is beneficial.
Adverse effect/adverse event An abnormal
or harmful effect caused by, and attributable to,
exposure to a chemical (e.g. a drug), which is
indicated by some result such as death, a
physical symptom or a visible illness. An event
may be classified as adverse if it causes
functional or anatomical damage, causes
irreversible changes in the homeostasis of the
organism or increases the susceptibility of the
organism to other chemical or biological stress.
Alopecia Baldness/loss of body hair.
Anaemia An abnormally low level of red
blood cells in the blood. Red blood cells are
responsible for carrying oxygen around the
body.
Antineoplastic Inhibiting or preventing the
development of neoplasms, and checking the
maturation and proliferation of malignant
cells.
Arthralgia Joint pain.
© Queen’s Printer and Controller of HMSO 2007. All rights reserved.
Health Technology Assessment 2007; Vol. 11: No. 2
Glossary and list of abbreviations
Technical terms and abbreviations are used throughout this report. The meaning is usually clear from
the context, but a glossary is provided for the non-specialist reader. In some cases, usage differs in the
literature, but the term has a constant meaning throughout this review.
Asthenia Weakness, lack of energy and
strength.
Bias Deviation of results or inferences from
the truth, or processes leading to such
deviation. Any trend in the collection, analysis,
interpretation, publication or review of data
that can lead to conclusions that are
systematically different from the truth.
Blinding A procedure used in clinical trials
to avoid the possible bias that might be
introduced if the patient and/or doctor knew
which treatment the patient would be
receiving. If neither the patient nor the doctor
is aware of which treatment has been given, the
trial is termed ‘double-blind’. If only one of the
patient or doctor is aware, the trial is called
‘single-blind’.
Carcinoma A cancerous growth.
Censored data Censorship means that the
event does not occur during the period of
observation and the time of event is unknown,
but these cases are incorporated into the
analysis. Those whose event is unknown or who
are lost to the study (right censored), or new
patients introduced into the study (left
censored), add to the information on patients
whose event time is known (uncensored) at
each time interval.
Chemotherapy The use of drugs that are
capable of killing cancer cells or
preventing/slowing their growth.
Clodronate A medicine used to treat a high
level of calcium in the blood caused by changes
in the body that happen with cancer.
Clodronate also treats the weakening in the
bones when cancer has spread to the bones
from another part of the body.
Co-intervention In a randomised controlled
trial, the application of additional diagnostic or
therapeutic procedures to members of either
the experimental or reference group, or to
both groups.
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