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NIDA Home > Funding > Guidelines for Establishing and Operating a Data and Safety Monitoring Board    

Guidelines for Establishing and Operating a Data and Safety Monitoring Board - Appendix 1



Initial Protocol Review

Outline of protocol items to be reviewed

Statement of protocol design (e.g., blinding, control group)

Characteristics of study data collection site(s)

Inclusion/exclusion criteria

Randomization/stratification plan

Definition of participants (e.g., screened, enrolled, randomized, training, treated, drop out, lost to follow-up)

Intervention definition

  • Dosage and frequency
  • Manual (specification for behavioral studies)

Reasons to discontinue participation

  • Safety rules
  • Behavioral rules
  • Missed assessments rules

Reasons to change treatment regimen

Outcome measures

  • Primary
  • Secondary

Sample size

  • Calculation
  • Definition of subjects used for calculation (usually those randomized)

Key adherence variables

Key safety variables (e.g., BP, pulse, liver function tests)

Data analysis plan

Interim analysis plan


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