{"entity":{"id":"double-blind","kind":"term","name":"Blinding (double-blind, open-label, placebo-controlled)","aka":["double-blind","double blind","double-blinded","blinded","open-label","open label","unblinded","placebo-controlled","placebo-controlled trial","matching placebo","single-blind","investigator-blinded","assessor-blinded","blinded assessment","blinded independent review","unblinding"],"tldr":"Whether patients and doctors know which treatment is being given. Double-blind: neither knows (a placebo hides it). Open-label: both do, unavoidable for surgery or radiotherapy but a source of bias when judging progression and symptoms.","summary":"Blinding protects subjective outcomes (progression on scans, symptom scores, decisions to stop or switch) from expectation bias. Many oncology trials are open-label because the comparators differ in route or schedule; they compensate with blinded independent central review of imaging and hard endpoints such as overall survival. Placebo-controlled designs are standard for maintenance and adjuvant trials (adding a pill or nothing). Unblinding at interim analysis, or effective unblinding through side effects (alopecia, rash), can compromise a trial, and open-label designs tend to show larger investigator-assessed PFS effects than blinded review.","asOf":"2026-09-09","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blinded_experiment","links":[{"label":"Wikipedia","url":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blinded_experiment"}],"tags":[],"related":["bicr","control-arm","intention-to-treat","single-arm","stratified-randomisation","clinical-equipoise","placebo","n-of-1-trial"],"cancers":[],"sections":["drug-discovery"],"technologies":[],"targets":[],"drugs":[],"companies":[],"institutions":[],"pathways":[],"terms":[],"trials":["act-iv","olanzapine-appetite-tmh","keynote-564","add-aspirin"],"people":[],"bottlenecks":[],"keyPapers":[],"journals":[],"dependsOn":[],"notes":[],"category":"Trials"},"route":"/terms/double-blind/","neighbours":{"term":[{"id":"bicr","kind":"term","name":"Blinded independent central review (BICR)","route":"/terms/bicr/"},{"id":"blinding","kind":"term","name":"Blinded trial","route":"/terms/blinding/"},{"id":"clinical-equipoise","kind":"term","name":"Clinical equipoise","route":"/terms/clinical-equipoise/"},{"id":"control-arm","kind":"term","name":"Control arm and comparator (investigator's choice)","route":"/terms/control-arm/"},{"id":"intention-to-treat","kind":"term","name":"Intention-to-treat (ITT) and per-protocol analysis","route":"/terms/intention-to-treat/"},{"id":"n-of-1-trial","kind":"term","name":"N-of-1 trial","route":"/terms/n-of-1-trial/"},{"id":"placebo","kind":"term","name":"Placebo","route":"/terms/placebo/"},{"id":"single-arm","kind":"term","name":"Single-arm trial","route":"/terms/single-arm/"},{"id":"stratified-randomisation","kind":"term","name":"Stratified randomisation, allocation concealment and minimisation","route":"/terms/stratified-randomisation/"}],"section":[{"id":"drug-discovery","kind":"section","name":"Drug Discovery Platforms","route":"/fronts/drug-discovery/"}],"trial":[{"id":"act-iv","kind":"trial","name":"ACT IV","route":"/trials/act-iv/"},{"id":"add-aspirin","kind":"trial","name":"Add-Aspirin","route":"/trials/add-aspirin/"},{"id":"keynote-564","kind":"trial","name":"KEYNOTE-564","route":"/trials/keynote-564/"},{"id":"olanzapine-appetite-tmh","kind":"trial","name":"Low-dose olanzapine for cancer anorexia (Tata Memorial)","route":"/trials/olanzapine-appetite-tmh/"}]}}