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Published in: Trials 1/2014

Open Access 01-12-2014 | Methodology

The risks and rewards of covariate adjustment in randomized trials: an assessment of 12 outcomes from 8 studies

Authors: Brennan C Kahan, Vipul Jairath, Caroline J Doré, Tim P Morris

Published in: Trials | Issue 1/2014

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Abstract

Background

Adjustment for prognostic covariates can lead to increased power in the analysis of randomized trials. However, adjusted analyses are not often performed in practice.

Methods

We used simulation to examine the impact of covariate adjustment on 12 outcomes from 8 studies across a range of therapeutic areas. We assessed (1) how large an increase in power can be expected in practice; and (2) the impact of adjustment for covariates that are not prognostic.

Results

Adjustment for known prognostic covariates led to large increases in power for most outcomes. When power was set to 80% based on an unadjusted analysis, covariate adjustment led to a median increase in power to 92.6% across the 12 outcomes (range 80.6 to 99.4%). Power was increased to over 85% for 8 of 12 outcomes, and to over 95% for 5 of 12 outcomes. Conversely, the largest decrease in power from adjustment for covariates that were not prognostic was from 80% to 78.5%.

Conclusions

Adjustment for known prognostic covariates can lead to substantial increases in power, and should be routinely incorporated into the analysis of randomized trials. The potential benefits of adjusting for a small number of possibly prognostic covariates in trials with moderate or large sample sizes far outweigh the risks of doing so, and so should also be considered.
Appendix
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Metadata
Title
The risks and rewards of covariate adjustment in randomized trials: an assessment of 12 outcomes from 8 studies
Authors
Brennan C Kahan
Vipul Jairath
Caroline J Doré
Tim P Morris
Publication date
01-12-2014
Publisher
BioMed Central
Published in
Trials / Issue 1/2014
Electronic ISSN: 1745-6215
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1186/1745-6215-15-139

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