Common Pitfalls to Avoid When Interpreting Clinical Trials, with Deepak Bhatt, MD, MPH, MBA

Although clinical trial data can prove invaluable and have practice-altering implications, the timeline from data release to adoption into clinical practice can sometimes take years. According to a study conducted in 2011, it takes approximately 17 for scientific discoveries to translate into real-world care practices.¹

In cardiology, few have been as integrally involved in the development and conduct of influential clinical trials as Deepak Bhatt, MD, MPH, MBA, director of Mount Sinai Heart and the Dr. Valentin Foster Professor of Cardiovascular Medicine at the Icahn School of Medicine. A senior investigator for the TIMI group and principal investigator on a multitude of landmark trials, including REDUCE-IT, SCORED, and THEMIS, Google Scholar reports Bhatt’s work has been cited more than 275,000 times.^1,2

On the opening day of European Society of Cardiology (ESC) Congress 2024, Bhatt took part in a session titled “Statistics Made Easy”. In the session, Bhatt led 1 of 3 presentations included in the section, with his presentation titled “Pitfalls in the interpretation of clinical trials: important aspects for trialists and clinicians who read their publications”. As part of our coverage of the meeting, the editorial team of HCPLive Cardiology sat down with Bhatt to discuss the most common pitfalls for practicing clinicians when interpreting trial data and that conversation is the subject of the following video interview.

Relevant disclosures for Bhatt include Amarin, AstraZeneca, Sanofi, Pfizer, Roche, Amgen, and Eli Lilly and Company, among others.

References:

1. Morris ZS, Wooding S, Grant J. The answer is 17 years, what is the question: understanding time lags in translational research. J R Soc Med. 2011;104(12):510-520. doi:10.1258/jrsm.2011.110180
2. Deepak L. Bhatt. Wikipedia. August 12, 2024. Accessed August 30, 2024. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deepak_L._Bhatt.