Double Duty: Can the meningitis vaccine also protect against gonorrhea?

About this episode

Can the meningitis vaccine do double duty against gonorrhea? We examine a fascinating randomized trial inspired by years of encouraging observational studies—and what happened when those earlier results were finally put to the test. Along the way, we discuss ecological studies, case-control studies, why statisticians distrust phrases like “trend toward significance,” how intention-to-treat differs from per-protocol analysis, and why no amount of statistical adjustment can fully substitute for randomization. Along the way we celebrate outrageously named clinical trials, ask whether “flirting with statistical significance” belongs in a romance novel or a medical journal, and discover that “practice safe statistics” may be the best advice of the episode. Statistical topics • Case-control studies • Confounding • Ecological studies • Generalizability • Intention-to-treat • Meta-analysis • Null results • Observational studies • P-values • Per-protocol analysis • Randomized clinical trials • Survival analysis Methodologic Morals • “Don't mistake a p-value of 0.06 for a p-value of 0.04 with bad luck.” •  “Practice safe statistics; randomize whenever possible.” References Seib KL,