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Types of clinical trials
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When you think of clinical trials, you might think about researchers trying out new medicines on people to see how well they work for a certain disease. This is one type of clinical trial, but there are many other types that look at many different aspects of health.
- Medically reviewed by
- AKF's Medical Advisory Committee
- Last updated
- July 3, 2024
Different types of clinical trials are:
- Treatment trials test new medicines, treatments or therapies for a disease or health condition.
- Prevention trials look for new and improved ways to prevent a disease or a health condition. Prevention trials may involve testing out medicines, vitamins, vaccines or lifestyle changes.
- Diagnostic or screening trials study the best ways to diagnose or detect a disease or health condition.
- Quality of life trials study how the side effects of a treatment (like dialysis) affect the patient's well-being and daily functions.
- Genetic trials look at how genes (DNA) are related to certain diseases or health conditions.
- Epidemiological (ep′i·de′mi·o·log′i·cal) trials look for patterns of certain diseases or health conditions across groups of people (for example: people of certain races/ethnicities may have a disease more often than others).