Clinical trial is the gold standard for evaluating the efficacy and safety of interventions; however, it is limited by high costs and long time. Real-world data (RWD) can provide a robust data basis for comparative research, but the quality is uneven. This review introduces the target trial emulation, in which researchers, using RWD and following the design of clinical trials, define exposure and outcome in advance, set eligibility criteria, determine the time zero, estimate sample size, and plan statistical analysis, to enhance the quality of evidence for observational studies. This review preliminarily discusses the standard of evidence quality evaluation in target trial emulation. Then, the target trial emulation is shown through case interpretation.
临床试验是评价干预措施疗效和安全性的金标准，但存在花费大、耗时长等限制。现实世界数据可为比较性研究提供强大的数据基础，但研究质量参差不齐。本文介绍了仿真目标试验，其利用现实世界数据，按照临床试验的设计，事先定义暴露和结局、设立纳入排除标准、确定时间零点、估计样本量和制定统计分析计划等，以期提高观察性研究的证据等级，并初步讨论仿真目标试验的证据等级评价标准，通过案例解读仿真目标试验。.