intention to treat

intention to treat

In clinical trials, the principle that holds that the effect of a treatment regimen can be best assessed by evaluating the basis of the intention to treat a subject (i.e., the planned treatment regimen), rather than the actual treatment given. Thus, subjects allocated to a treatment group should be followed, assessed and analysed as members of the treatment group irrespective of their compliance with the planned course of treatment. The principle of intention to treat is meant to prevent bias caused by loss of trial participants, which may reflect non-adherence to the protocol and disrupt baseline equivalence established by random assignment.