Statistics, Warrington and their Place in the Evolution of Medicine as an Evidence-Based Science

Andy Grieve, Pfizer

The famous controlled trial by James Lind in 1747 in which he investigated the effect of oranges and lemons on scurvy is well-known and is often seen as standing alone. In fact relatively recent research has shown that far from being an isolated event, Lind's trial was but one example of many attempts to introduce quantitative measurement into medicine in the 18th century with Warrington providing a particular hot-spot. In this talk I will look at other examples from the 18th century and look at the parallels that there are with modern evidence-based medicine.