Question

A large study finds that a new hypertension drug lowered BP, on average, 1 mm Hg more than conventional treatments. The results were statistically significant with a P Value of less than .05 because the study was large enough to detect a very small difference. Were the results clinically significant? Why or why not?

Answer 1

Statistical significance means

Clinical significance is a matter of judgement since Clinical significance has little to do with statistics. Clinical significance often depends on the magnitude of the effect being studied. It answers the question “Is the difference between groups large enough to be worth achieving?” Studies can be statistically significant yet clinically insignificant.

Below example will illustrate well about the given condition.

For example, a large study might find that a new antihypertensive drug lowered BP, on average, 1 mm Hg more than conventional treatments. The results were statistically significant with a P Value of less than .05 because the study was large enough to detect a very small difference. But in real life, most clinicians would not find the 1 mm Hg difference in blood pressure large enough to justify changing to a new drug. This would be a case where the results were statistically significant (p value less than .05) but clinically insignificant.