J Orthop Sports Phys Ther. 2019 Sep;49(9):677-678. doi: 10.2519/jospt.2019.0705.
To judge whether one treatment is more effective than another, we need to know how big the difference is. One way of judging the size of the difference reported in a trial is to ask whether it is "clinically meaningful" (or clinically worthwhile): "The smallest change that is important to patients." A treatment is often said to be "effective" and recommended for practice when the between-group difference in a study is larger than the clinically meaningful effect. But this simple idea hides some complexity. This Evidence in Practice article aims to explain the definitions, interpretations, and implications of minimally important change (MIC), minimal clinically important change (MCIC), and minimal clinically important difference (MCID). .
要判断一种治疗方法是否比另一种更有效，我们需要知道差异有多大。判断试验中报告的差异大小的一种方法是询问它是否具有“临床意义”（或临床价值）：“对患者最重要的最小变化。”当研究中组间差异大于临床有意义的效果时，治疗方法通常被认为是“有效”的，并推荐用于实践。但这个简单的想法隐藏了一些复杂性。本文旨在解释最小有意义变化（MIC）、最小临床有意义变化（MCIC）和最小临床有意义差异（MCID）的定义、解释和含义。
