Proxymått

Proxymått, often translated as proxy measures or surrogate endpoints, are used in scientific research and clinical trials when a direct measurement of a desired outcome is not feasible, practical, or timely. Instead of measuring the ultimate clinical benefit or harm, researchers measure a related, observable outcome that is expected to predict the effect of an intervention on the true outcome. For example, blood pressure might be used as a proxy measure for the risk of stroke, as a reduction in blood pressure is generally believed to reduce the likelihood of stroke. Similarly, viral load in HIV treatment can serve as a proxy for disease progression and mortality.

The validity of a proxymått is crucial. A good proxymått should be demonstrably correlated with the true clinical outcome, responsive to the intervention being studied, and reliably measurable. If a proxymått is not well-chosen, it can lead to incorrect conclusions about the efficacy or safety of a treatment. For instance, if an intervention effectively lowers a proxymått but has no impact on the actual disease outcome, it might be mistakenly approved or widely adopted. The development and validation of proxymått are ongoing areas of research, particularly in chronic diseases where long-term outcomes can take years to observe. Regulatory bodies often require strong evidence supporting the use of a specific proxymått before accepting it as a surrogate for a definitive clinical endpoint.