Evaluating statistics in clinical trials: making the unintelligible intelligible.

Medical practitioners should be familiar with the basic principles of statistical testing and analysis, as the critical evaluation of clinical trials is an essential component to the effective practise of evidence-based medicine. Practitioners also need to be able to identify unethical trial design. The aim of this review is to facilitate an understanding of inferential methodology by introducing some of the basic principles involved in the critical analysis of trial design and interpretation.