Eligibility Criteria

Eligibility criteria are a set of requirements that must be met by all people enrolled in a clinical trial. Using specific eligibility criteria helps ensure that patients resemble one another in characteristics such as age, gender, or certain aspects of medical history. This makes the results of the trial more likely to be both accurate and meaningful, because they will be due to the medical intervention being studied rather than other factors or mere chance. Eligibility criteria also reduce the chance that those who might experience negative side effects are enrolled in the trial, which contributes to patient safety.