Clinical Trials

❘❙❚■ Chapter 35 | Use of TablesTable 2. Costs to providers and women in Cuba and Thailand [4].Type of cost New model Standard model Mean differenceNumber of women Mean (SD) Number of women Mean (SD) (95% CI)Providers’ costs aCuba 2870 885.4 (1632.0) 2734 956.8 (1294.2) –71.4 (–148.8, 2.5)Thailand 3278 167.2 (144.7) 3091 206.1 (172.9) –38.9 (–46.3, –30.9)Women’s out-of-pocket costs aCuba 170 174.4 (470.2) 170 242.4 (174.4) –68.0 (–144.0, 7.7)Thailand 205 11.9 (16.7) 226 18.4 (27.1) –6.5 (–10.8, –2.19)Women’s time in access to care bCuba 170 15.9 (17.3) 170 25.0 (23.5) –9.1 (–13.5, –4.7)Thailand 205 14.8 (12.1) 226 29.7 (19.2) –14.9 (–18.0, –11.8)aAverage cost per pregnancy 1998, US$ purchasing power conversion. The official exchange rates on January 1, 1998,were: $US1 = 1.00 Cuban Peso = 52.3 Thai Baht. The purchasing power parity rate on January 1, 1998 was US$1 =0.42 Cuban Peso = 26.9 Thai Baht. These were calculated on the basis of costs of a basket of selected food itemsin each country. This allowed a common purchasing power parity conversion method to be used.bAverage time per pregnancy in hours.Reproduced with permission from Elsevier (Lancet 2001;357:1551–64).tables demonstrate how complex information can be presented in a compact wayusing a two-dimensional comparison table that compares treatments in columnsand countries in rows, and includes subgroup comparisons using additional rows.Such tables are invaluable as they obviate the need for complex text andenable the reader to fully appreciate where the treatment differences make thegreatest impact.Using tables instead of textTable 3 is an example of a table taken from the methods section of a clinical trial.It contains categorization of the venous segments, which enables the reader toreview their categorization easily. The accompanying text, being less wordy thanif it was incorporated into the text, is easier to read. The authors use theircategorization of the venous segments in their definition of type of reflux,as follows.396