Controlled Clinical Trial

A controlled clinical trial compares the experimental intervention with the current standard of treatment, placebo, or no treatment. One or more arms of the trial are given the intervention being evaluated, and at least one arm serves as the control group.

Controlled clinical trials allow the researchers to control who will receive an exposure. The trials may be randomized or non-randomized control trials. While randomized control trials are considered being the gold standard, non-randomized control trials do have a place in research. One benefit is the ability to compare a group receiving a current intervention with a historically controlled group- a similar group in the past that did not receive the treatment/exposure.

Source: NCI Dictionary of Cancer Terms. (n.d.). National Cancer Institute. Retrieved January 8, 2022, from https://www.cancer.gov/publications/dictionaries/cancer-terms/expand/C