To facilitate communication of blin

To facilitate communication of blinding procedures in randomized clinical trials, the traditional terminology usesthe phrases “single-blind,” “double-blind,” and sometimes“triple-blind.” Tese terms derive from the very early days ofclinical trial development and have become deeply rooted.Unfortunately, they are ambiguous. A study of physicians’interpretations of the terms revealed 10, 17, and 15 uniqueinterpretations, respectively, and textbooks provided 5, 9, and7 dissimilar defnitions, respectively.3 Researchers also seemto be overconfdent about how ofen their preferred defnitionis actually adhered to. Te authors of one study believed thattheir preferred defnition of “double-blind” was adhered to in amedian of 86% of trials, but, in fact, only 28% of trials adheredto the most common of the 15 reported defnitions.