Sequential Treatment Assignment with Balancing for Prognostic Factors in the Controlled Clinical Trial

摘要: In controlled clinical trials there are usually several prognostic factors known or thought to influence the patient's ability respond treatment. Therefore, method of sequential treatment assignment needs be designed so that balance is simultaneously achieved across all such patients factor. Traditional methods restricted randomization as "permuted blocks within strata" prove inadequate once number strata, combinations factor levels, approaches sample size. A new general procedure for described which concentrates on minimizing imbalance in distributions numbers levels each individual The improved obtained by this approach explored using simulation a simple model trial. Further discussion centers selection, predictability and practicability procedure.