Evidence-based medicine and meta-analysis: Getting more out of the literature

Publisher Summary Evidence-based health care is the conscientious use of current best evidence in making decisions about the care of individual patients or the delivery of health services. Evidence-based medicine (EBM) formalizes the principles and methods of reviewing and synthesizing evidence that have been developing over several decades. Current best evidence is up-to-date information from relevant, valid research about the effects of different forms of health care, the potential for harm from exposure to particular agents, the accuracy of diagnostic tests, and the predictive power of prognostic factors. This chapter focuses on systematic reviews and meta-analyses, which are the fundamental tools of EBM. The methodologies of carrying out these approaches are reviewed so that results can be better interpreted and utilized. Sites where these products can be accessed to assist medical or health policy decision-making are also discussed. There are important limitations, and the quality of EBM products is only as good as the primary research summarized. Much work remains to be done to realize the promises of EBM.