ConclusionS -carboxymethylcysteine is effective in the treatment of children with glue ear .
Objective To establish the clinical relevance of S-carboxymethylcysteine in the treatment of glue ear in children using measures approximating those saving a child from operation for grommet insertion .
Confidence intervals rather than P values: estimation rather than hypothesis testing.
Overemphasis on hypothesis testing-- and the use of P values to dichotomise significant or non-significant results --has detracted from more useful approaches to interpreting study results , such as estimation and confidence intervals . In medical studies investigators are usually interested in determining the size of difference of a measured outcome between groups , rather than a simple indication of whether or not it is statistically significant . Confidence intervals present a range of values , on the basis of the sample data , in which the population value for such a difference may lie . Some methods of calculating confidence intervals for means and differences between means are given , with similar information for proportions . The paper also gives suggestions for graphical display . Confidence intervals , if appropriate to the type of study , should be used for major findings in both the main text of a paper and its abstract
ConclusionS -carboxymethylcysteine is effective in the treatment of children with glue ear .
Objective To establish the clinical relevance of S-carboxymethylcysteine in the treatment of glue ear in children using measures approximating those saving a child from operation for grommet insertion .