Clinical trials of platelet-active drugs in coronary heart disease: summary of design features.

The basic design features of eight clinical trials of platelet-active drugs in the secondary prevention of myocardial infarction are reviewed. Study populations are compared with regard to size, time of enrollment after the qualifying infarction and the length of follow-up. Differences in the drug regimens in terms of dose are given and there are comments on the selection of response variables, the withdrawal of patients from analysis and repeated significance testing.