ClinicalTrials.gov Tutorial

Chicago Urban Health Outreach Project

ClinicalTrials.gov Tutorial

Use the buttons below to navigate. Start by clicking the right arrow to advance to the next page.

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Welcome!Tutorial Contents

• A brief history of ClinicalTrials.gov

• The scope of the database & its primary

audience• How to perform a search

• What results you can expect to find

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A Brief HistoryThe ClinicalTrials.gov information resource was

initiated as a result of the Food and Drug Administration Modernization Act of November 1997.

The legislation requires the Department of Health and Human Services, through the National Institutes of Health (NIH), to establish a registry of clinical trials

for both federally and privately funded trials "of experimental treatments for serious or life-

threatening diseases or conditions.” The database was launched in February 2000 as a service of the NIH developed by its National Library of Medicine

(NLM), and is freely available on the internet.

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Target audienceThe database is certainly useful for health care professionals, but it was designed to provide patients, family

members, and members of the public easy access to information on clinical trials for a wide range of diseases and

conditions. Note: Other clinical trial registers, such as the one run by the

Cochrane Collaboration, address the information needs of clinicians and researchers more directly. However, most of the

others are not freely available.

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Scope of the Database ClinicalTrials.gov currently contains approximately 7,600

clinical studies sponsored by the National Institutes of Health, other Federal agencies, and the pharmaceutical

industry in over 89,000 locations worldwide. Studies listed in the database are conducted primarily in the

United States and Canada, but include locations in about 80 countries. It includes studies which are recruiting, and some studies which are done recruiting and are ongoing.

Though the legislative mandate called for a register of “serious or life-threatening diseases “, the register strives

to be a comprehensive listing of clinical trials

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A Look at the Front PageNotice its main features:

What’s New (clinical trials in the news)

Basic Search

Focused Search

Browsing

Resource Information

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Basic Searching

Enter some basic search terms separated by commas, like:

City or state of the study (chicago, gary, indiana, iowa)

Diseases and conditions (lupus, diabetes)

Experimental treatments (diet, insulin, aspirin)

Types of studies (phase 3, expanded access)

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Focused Searching1) Click on each category name to access details and definitions

2) Enter terms and select criteria to focus your search

3) Click the Search Button

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List of Search ResultsUsually several studies will match your search criteria, presented in a list. Each entry contains the name of the study and a list of conditions it addresses.

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List of Search Results 2By clicking on the “Show all trials” dialog box, you can bring into the list studies which have stopped recruiting patients. You can remove these studies by clicking on the box again.

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List of Search Results 3You can call up greater detail on the study by clicking on its title,

or you can select any number of studies by clicking on the dialog box next to its number, and then clicking the “Display Selected Studies” button.

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Individual Study Information

The record for each individual study looks something like this, though much more information is contained than what is shown here…

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Individual Study Information 2

For each study, you will find:• a summary outlining the purpose• the recruitment status• the eligibility criteria for patient participation• location of the trial• specific contact information• Other information in the database that may help a

patient decide whether to enroll in a particular trial includes the disease or condition, the particular drug or therapy under study, and the phase of the trial. ClinicalTrials.gov also links to other online health resources that help place clinical trials in the context of a patient's overall medical care. 

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What you won’t find

• The ability to register for trials; patients must contact the recruiters themselves, using the contact information provided

• Advice for specific medical conditions; though the details of each study usually provides links to useful information in other NLM databases, such as MEDLINEplus and PubMed/MEDLINE.

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How Do I Get There?

It’s easy: simply type the address below into your web browser, or click on it to be

taken there right now…

http://ClinicalTrials.gov

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That’s It! ClinicalTrials.gov is designed to be simple and easy to use, but

it is a young database, so expect to see enhancements to its features in the near future. Please feel free to email any questions or comments to Martin Brennan, CUHOP Outreach Coordinator, by clicking here.

Return to the CUHOP Instruction Center Return to CUHOP main page

Go to ClinicalTrials.gov Go to PubMed Go to MEDLINEplus

Tutorial designed April 2003 by Martin BrennanNLM website content reproduced by permission