1948 First MRC randomized controlled trial: streptomycin treatment of pulmonary tuberculosis

Famously, the reason for randomization in this, the MRC’s and Hill’s first randomized controlled trial, was fair allocation of a scarce resource, streptomycin, among eligible patients. Over the next five years, the Unit’s output included vaccine trials, meta-analysis of three MRC trials of chemotherapy for pulmonary TB in young adults, and expository articles on clinical trials by Hill in the New England Journal of Medicine. By 1960, the British approach to Controlled Clinical Trials had been thoroughly documented under Hill’s direction and with attention both to study size and novel sequential methods.

References

1. Medical Research Council. Streptomycin treatment of pulmonary tuberculosis. British Medical Journal 1948; ii: 769-782.
2. Daniels M, Hill AB. Chemotherapy of pulmonary tuberculosis in young adults: an analysis of the combined results of three Medical Research Council Trials. British Medical Journal 1952; i: 1162-1168.
3. Hill AB. The clinical trial. New England Journal of Medicine 1952; 247: 113-119.
4. Hill AB. Observation and experiment (the Cutter Lecture in Preventive Medicine, 1953). New England Journal of Medicine 1953; 248: 995-1001.
5. MRC Committee on Influenza and other Respiratory Virus Vaccines. Trials of an Asian influenza vaccine. British Medical Journal 1953; i: 415-BBB.
6. Controlled Clinical Trials (papers delivered at the conference convened by the Council for International Organizations of Medical Sciences. Established under the joint auspices of UNESCO and WHO. Organized under the direction of Professor A, Bradford Hill, FRS, chairman of the conference). Blackwell Scientific Publications, Oxford 1960.