Randomised controlled trials , Alejandro Jadad, pp 128. BMJ Books, 1998. £12.95 (£11.95 to BMA members), paperback. ISBN 0 7279 1208 9. ★★★ The issue of trial design is increasingly recognised as central to the evaluation of the benefit from any healthcare intervention. The author describes the book as an introductory guide aimed primarily at clinicians, young researchers, research staff and trainees in any health profession. My personal view, admittedly, in the author's own words (p 81) “idiosyncratic, ... informal and subjective”, is that while I fully endorse all that is said, these …