Table 1 Parameter settings for the simulation study

Fidelity pattern

Start value

(40%, 60%, 80%)

End value

(60%, 80%, 100%)

Design parameters

Design

parallel CRT, stepped-wedge CRT

Number of time points (T)

7

Number of clusters (C)

6

Number of patients within clusters (N)

10

Model parameters

Overall baseline mean

Mean of outcome, measured at baseline (T0)

Intervention effect (Θ)

1

Time trend

no

Intracluster correlation coefficient (ICC)

0.001