Book excerpt: A complete guide to the key statistical concepts essential for the design and construction of clinical trials As the newest major resource in the field of medical research, Methods and Applications of Statistics in Clinical Trials, Volume 1: Concepts, Principles, Trials, and Designs presents a timely and authoritative reviewof the central statistical concepts used to build clinical trials that obtain the best results. The referenceunveils modern approaches vital to understanding, creating, and evaluating data obtained throughoutthe various stages of clinical trial design and analysis. Accessible and comprehensive, the first volume in a two-part set includes newly-written articles as well as established literature from the Wiley Encyclopedia of Clinical Trials. Illustrating a variety of statistical concepts and principles such as longitudinal data, missing data, covariates, biased-coin randomization, repeated measurements, and simple randomization, the book also provides in-depth coverage of the various trial designs found within phase I-IV trials. Methods and Applications of Statistics in Clinical Trials, Volume 1: Concepts, Principles, Trials, and Designs also features: Detailed chapters on the type of trial designs, such as adaptive, crossover, group-randomized, multicenter, non-inferiority, non-randomized, open-labeled, preference, prevention, and superiority trials Over 100 contributions from leading academics, researchers, and practitioners An exploration of ongoing, cutting-edge clinical trials on early cancer and heart disease, mother-to-child human immunodeficiency virus transmission trials, and the AIDS Clinical Trials Group Methods and Applications of Statistics in Clinical Trials, Volume 1: Concepts, Principles, Trials, and Designs is an excellent reference for researchers, practitioners, and students in the fields of clinicaltrials, pharmaceutics, biostatistics, medical research design, biology, biomedicine, epidemiology,and public health.