Equal censoring but still informative: When the reasons for censoring differ between treatment arms

In randomized controlled trials, informative censoring has been described as a potential bias, mainly affecting time-to-event composite endpoints, like progression-free survival (PFS). It is usually suspected in the presence of unequal attrition rates between arms. Early censoring occurs for different reasons: patients may withdraw from a trial because of toxicity, or because of disappointment with their allocation arm. If censoring is more frequent in one arm due to increased toxicity, this removes the frailest individuals and introduces a bias favoring this arm.
Source: European Journal of Cancer - Category: Cancer & Oncology Authors: Tags: Current perspective Source Type: research