TY - JOUR T1 - Randomised controlled trials and real-life studies: two answers for one question JF - European Respiratory Review JO - EUROPEAN RESPIRATORY REVIEW DO - 10.1183/16000617.0080-2018 VL - 27 IS - 149 SP - 180080 AU - Sergio Harari Y1 - 2018/09/30 UR - http://err.ersjournals.com/content/27/149/180080.abstract N2 - Real-life studies have become increasingly important in the scientific world in recent years. Although they have numerous limitations, they have the advantage of better representing the population with which we normally have to deal in our everyday clinical practice. Randomised controlled trials (RCTs) remain the most effective form of evaluation of the efficacy of a therapeutic intervention to date, but their selection criteria limit the recruitment of patients in upper or lower age ranges or suffering from multiple comorbidities. These are individuals who are suffering from severe medical conditions and take several different medications, and these are the subjects we meet and we take care of when taking charge of the general population. This is so true that in some RCTs the screening failure rate has exceeded 70% of patients [1]. Therefore, integrating RCTs with real-life studies is increasingly important, as is deepening the discussion of the selection criteria used in the registration studies, so that they better reflect the true situation of our patients. Moving from the ideal world to the real world may represent a hazardous shock that in the past has caused both surprises and bitter disappointments [2].Real-life studies have a place alongside randomised controlled trials http://ow.ly/7S5Q30lCiYN ER -