Evidence-appraisal glossary
PROBE Design
A trial that is randomized and open-label for patients and treating doctors, but has outcomes judged by assessors who do not know the assignment. PROBE stands for Prospective Randomized Open Blinded Endpoint.
Also called: Prospective Randomized Open Blinded Endpoint.
PROBE designs are common when blinding the treatment itself is impractical, for example comparing two very different procedures or dosing schedules. Keeping the endpoint assessment blinded protects against detection bias even though everyone knows who got what. The trade-off is that patients' and doctors' awareness can still shape subjective behavior, such as added co-interventions, so PROBE is most trustworthy for hard, objective outcomes.
This is a plain-language methodology definition for reading research. It is general education, not medical advice.