Lowering the statistical significance threshold of randomized controlled trials in three major general anesthesiology journals.

Lowering a P value threshold of 0.05 to 0.005 would have altered one third of significance interpretations of RCTs in the surveyed anesthesiology literature. Thus, it is important for readers to consider post hoc probabilities when evaluating clinical trial results. Although the present study focused on the anesthesiology literature, we suggest that our results warrant further research within other fields of medicine to help avoid clinical misinterpretation of RCT findings and improve quality of care.