Clinical Trials: Can They Improve Outcomes for Patients?

One in three adults suffers from multiple chronic conditions and more than 60% of all deaths around the world are due to chronic disease. These can include stroke, diabetes, heart disease, cancer, and chronic respiratory disease.

People are dying from medical conditions that have long been studied in the field of medicine. This is why there has been a strong pursuit for new and improved treatment modalities that will help lower these alarming rates and give people a better chance at recovery.

But to make this possible, clinical trials are needed to test whether a drug or treatment will work or not and there has been a longstanding debate on the matter.

But for patients who are in desperate need of a cure to their chronic disease, a clinical trial is a risk worth taking. But can it really improve outcomes for patients?

What is a Clinical Trial?

Whenever a new treatment or drug is created or discovered, a clinical trial is needed to see if it works and if there are any side effects to it. For most people, participating in a clinical trial means sacrificing yourself for the benefit of future patients.

But in reality, not all treatments or medications that undergo clinical trials have never been tested.

In fact, most of these clinical trials are done after several tests to ensure they don’t inflict any harm to participants. And in most cases, a clinical trial actually proves to be beneficial to a patient suffering from a certain disease.

When is a Clinical Trial done?

There are several reasons experts conduct a clinical trial. For one, scientists may want to experiment on how an already established drug would work if administered for another purpose.

Clinical trials are also done to test the efficiency and safety of a new treatment or drug, test two methods to compare one against the other, and discover complications early so preventive measures can be conducted promptly.

What should you know before joining a Clinical Trial?

Participating in a clinical trial means that you agree to try a completely new treatment method, procedure, or medication and that could come with some risks.

This is why it’s very important to talk to your doctor or nurse about the purpose of the study and who is conducting it, the exact description of the treatment or drug, the benefits, and risks, the treatments that will be done should you suffer from a complication and of course, your right as a participant.

Does a Clinical Trial offer Improved Outcomes?

At the end of the day, the results of a clinical trial will depend on how the treatment or drug works and how your body responds to it. But more often than not, clinical trials have shown improved outcomes for patients suffering from different medical conditions while some have been proven to be as effective as conventional forms of treatment.

Participating in a clinical trial is definitely a huge decision. But if you want to take the chance at improving your condition and helping others, then you can never go wrong with saying yes to a clinical trial.

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