National Clinical Trials Day is observed on May 20 every year to mark the anniversary of the day in 1747 when James Lind conducted the first randomized clinical study. Today we take a moment to recognize the accomplishments of all the clinical research professionals involved in NIH StrokeNet, in public health, and in medicine by recognizing their efforts in clinical trials. It is also a day to express gratitude to clinical research experts for their contributions to the advancement of public health through their work. The goal is to make this a primary focus for international communication activities, meetings, discussions, and celebrations of clinical research over this period as well. We are extremely grateful for our thousands upon thousands of patients and StrokeNet participants who without their engagement this work would not be possible. And we thank you for your contribution, however great or small – You are StrokeNet.
National Clinical Trials Day is observed on May 20 every year to mark the anniversary of the day in 1747 when James Lind conducted the first randomized clinical study. Today we take a moment to recognize the accomplishments of all the clinical research professionals involved in NIH StrokeNet, in public health, and in medicine by recognizing their efforts in clinical trials. It is also a day to express gratitude to clinical research experts for their contributions to the advancement of public health through their work. The goal is to make this a primary focus for international communication activities, meetings, discussions, and celebrations of clinical research over this period as well. We are extremely grateful for our thousands upon thousands of patients and StrokeNet participants who without their engagement this work would not be possible. And we thank you for your contribution, however great or small – You are StrokeNet.
History of Clinical Trials Day
This day has a long and illustrious history, as it commemorates and commemorates an event that occurred hundreds of years ago, in the 1700s, to be exact. In 1747, a surgeon named James Lind was serving on the H.M.S. Salisbury, which was a ship in the Royal Navy of the United Kingdom. The ship’s seamen were patrolling the English channel at a time when it was not uncommon for them to be struck down by the feared scurvy and, in some cases, to die as a result of it.
Scurvy is a debilitating disease that is caused mostly by a deficiency of vitamin C. Those who die as a result of gum disease usually do so as a result of an infection produced by the condition and the bleeding that it causes.
James Lind, a pioneer in naval hygiene, believed he had figured out how to treat it — but he needed proof. As a result, he gathered a group of 12 affected males to whom he administered his test, which included some citrus fruits and others that were not. Lind assigned two men to each of six distinct daily treatments for a total of fourteen days without disclosing the mechanism by which he made the selection. 1.1 liters of cider; 25 milliliters of elixir vitriol (diluted sulfuric acid); 18 milliliters of vinegar three times throughout the day before meals; half a pint of seawater; two oranges and one lemon consumed daily for six days only (or until the supply was exhausted); and a medicinal paste consisting of garlic, mustard seed, dried radish root, and gum myrrh were used as treatment. According to Lind’s assessment of the research, those who were given citrus fruits reported the most immediate and noticeable impacts. This was the first clinical trial conducted.
Clinical Trials Day timeline
1747
First Documented Clinical Trial
James Lind records an early version of a clinical trial with scurvy patients.
1786
First Crossover Trial
Crossover trials are first documented in research by English physician Caleb Parry in which he alternates between giving each patient the same sort of rhubarb at different times and then comparing the patient's symptoms while eating each variety of rhubarb.
1905
Early Randomization in Clinical Trials
William Fletcher, the district surgeon at the Kuala Lumpur Lunatic Asylum, is prompted by a beriberi outbreak to randomly assign one group to consume white rice and the other to consume brown rice in a clinical experiment and this is one of the earliest examples of randomization in clinical trials.
1948
First Randomized Control Trial
Sir Austin Bradford Hill, an English epidemiologist and statistician, carries out the first-ever randomized controlled experiment to treat tuberculosis of the lungs.