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important

— A judgement that a treatment effect is meaningful or important to the people affected

Synonyms:

clinically important, clinically significant

Full explanation:

The importance of a treatment effect is sometimes referred to as clinical significance or clinical importance. This is a judgement about how important the effect is to patients or others affected by the treatment. A conclusion that an effect is “clinically significant” or “clinically important” is a judgement that the effect is meaningful.

Because clinical significance is often confused with statistical significance, we recommend against using the term significant to describe treatment effects, especially without specifying what is meant. When scientific papers call results significant, they usually mean statistically significant. Using ‘important’when referring to such effects deals with this ambiguity because it prompts consideration of to whom the treatment effect is important.

See also:

statistically  ·  significant

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