Which analysis distinguishes trial-based from model-based by data sources?

• A. Trial-based uses only expert opinion.
• B. Model-based uses no data.
• C. Both rely on the same data sources.
• D. Trial-based uses data from clinical trials; model-based uses mathematical models and multiple data sources.

Answer: (D)

The main idea is how data sources shape each approach. In trial-based analysis, estimates come directly from data collected in clinical trials—actual observed outcomes, resource use, and costs measured during the trial. This provides facts anchored in a specific trial population and time frame. In model-based analysis, you build a mathematical model to simulate outcomes and costs, and you draw on multiple data sources to inform the inputs—trial results, observational studies, published literature, registries, and sometimes expert opinion—so you can estimate longer-term or broader-population effects that a single trial couldn’t capture. Because trial-based methods rely on trial data and model-based methods rely on a model cultivated from diverse sources, that distinction best captures the difference. The other statements don’t fit: trial-based isn’t limited to expert opinion, model-based isn’t data-free, and the two don’t use the same data sources.