Consider with caution
Whilst the results of this trial may be encouraging, they do need to be considered with some caution and should not be seen as conclusive evidence that lithium is an effective treatment for MND.
Sixteen people are an inadequate number in which to establish with confidence that a drug is beneficial. The methods used in the trial also had other significant weaknesses that make the results less reliable:
- The participants in the trial knew whether they were taking the trial treatment or whether they were in the comparison group. This can produce bias in the way participants report how they feel and also means that the placebo effect can have an influence.
- A larger proportion of the participants given lithium had disease characteristics (e.g. age and site of disease onset) that tend to be associated with slower disease progression.
- The participants were not put into the treatment and comparison groups at random - they were chosen for each group by the researchers. Random selection is usually performed by a computer and prevents bias in choosing which patients go into each group.
In addition, adverse events (possible side effects) were not described by the researchers, which is extremely unusual for a clinical trial report. For more information on the procedures used in clinical trials, see Research Info Sheet D - Clinical trials (324 kb) .
Research
