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Would
the use of a crossover design be likely to offer advantages
over a parallel group design in comparing a two week treatment
involving slow titration of a potential morphine potentiator
in patients with advanced cancer to a placebo?
You
answered:
Yes.
INCORRECT
Crossover studies have been commonly used in patients
with advanced cancer (Houde et al., 1965; Bruera,
1991), but if the total duration of the study exceeds one to two weeks, progression
of disease may cause a high dropout rate and may inflate the variance of key outcomes
such as pain levels and opioid consumption.
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