Efficacy versus effectiveness study design within the European screening trial for prostate cancer: consequences for cancer incidence, overall mortality and cancer-specific mortality.

The article discusses a study to evaluate the efficacy of different study designs on the outcome of data within the European Randomized Study of Screening for Prostate Cancer (ERSPC). Data was collected from the Gothenburg centre and the Rotterdam centre. The findings indicated that an efficacy trial with informed consent prior to randomization would have provided a better screening bias, and an effectiveness trial with consent after randomization will effectively estimate mortality reduction.