The Interpretation section of the abstract in an article by Nicole Le Saux and associates1 reads as follows: “Our results did not support the hypothesis that placebo was noninferior to amoxicillin (i.e., that the 14-day cure rates among children with clinically diagnosed acute otitis media would not be substantially worse in the placebo group than the treatment group).”
There seem to be several possible interpretations of what the authors might mean. Which is correct?
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Placebo is superior to amoxicillin.
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Placebo is equivalent to amoxicillin.
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Placebo is inferior to amoxicillin.
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Placebo is equivalent but not quite so.
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Our data are equivocal and more study is needed.
I not infrequently have difficulty divining the true meaning of sentences that contain double negatives.
Footnotes
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Competing interests: None declared.
Reference
- 1.