A brief summary of the study and its results. It should tell you what the study tried to show, how the researchers went about it, and what they found.

An unfavourable outcome that occurs during or after the use of a drug or other intervention, but is not necessarily caused by it.

Refers to a group of participants allocated to a particular treatment. In a randomised controlled trial, allocation to different arms is determined by the randomisation procedure. Many controlled trials have two arms, a group of participants assigned to an experimental intervention (sometimes called the treatment arm) and a group of participants assigned to a control (the control arm). Trials may have more than two arms.

The loss of participants during the course of a study. Also called 'loss to follow up'.