A formal noninferiority question requires more than a nonsignificant ordinary comparison.
A pediatric trial compared lidocaine given before intranasal midazolam with lidocaine coadministered in the same process. Average distress scores were similar, but the confidence interval yielded an inconclusive noninferiority determination. Clinicians found coadministration easier.
Convenience and similar observed means are different endpoints from demonstrated noninferiority. The trial was small, and results were bounded by its doses, administration methods and distress measures.
State the prespecified margin and uncertainty before describing two methods as equivalent. A workflow advantage does not prove equal pain control or sedation quality. The paper cannot establish that either method eliminates distress or is preferable for every child or clinical setting.
Source: PMC7771777, supplied full-text paper. Findings are paraphrased; forensic implications are an interpretation.
Related: Aminophylline Emergence Results Do Not Establish Specific Midazolam Reversal.