Dear Colleagues,
I think that this is a question that one of you would be able to answer.
Would you kindly respond to Arthur directly.
All good wishes,
Olive
Olive Goddard
Centre and Editorial Manager
Centre for Evidence-Based Medicine
Department of Primary Health Care
Old Road Campus, Headington
Oxford, OX3 7LF
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Tel: +44 (0)1865 289337 email: [log in to unmask]
Fax: +44 (0)1865 289336 web: www.cebm.net
Mobile: 07804 625002 web: www.cebmh.com ( http://www.cebmh.com )
>>> Arthur <[log in to unmask]> 11/09/2008 16:00 >>>
Dear Sir/Madam,
As a junior research assistant currently performing a systematic
review, your Levels of Evidence are very useful to me. However, there
is one thing that I find difficult to claify, and haven't been able to
find a satisfying answer to in the various sources I have consulted.
It is the exact definition of '"Outcomes" research' (level 2c for
interventional studies) when it comes to interventional studies. Is
this simply the retrospective analysis of for instance a surgical
intervention? Take for instance a surgeon who performs Procedure X,
and after performing the procedure on 55 patients decides to analyse
how many of these patients have a satisfactory outcome. Would this be
'outcomes research'? Or would this be a 'case series' due to its
uncontrolled nature? I hope you are able to shed some light on this.
Many thanks in advance.
Sincerely,
Arthur Scheffer
Research Assistant Otorhinolaryngology
UMC St Radboud, Nijmegen, The Netherlands
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