title: Use of data from nonrandomized trial designs in evidence reports: an application to treatment of pulmonary disease following spinal cord injury.
abstract: Evidence reports summarize the evidence pertaining to various health-related topics. Including evidence from nonrandomized studies into such reports involves a trade-off between availability and bias. We describe a general framework by which information from nonrandomized studies might be integrated reasonably into evidence reports and illustrate its application to a recent evidence report on preventing pulmonary complications among patients with spinal cord injury. The proposed framework, which is based upon the premise that producing a fair summary of the evidence requires only a level of evidence judged by clinical experts to be sufficient to the task at hand, may help focus scarce resources, strengthen the quality and documentation of decisions including evidence from nonrandomized studies, and suggest high-priority areas for future research.
authors.affiliation: Center for Clinical Health Policy Research, Duke University, Medical Center, Durham, NC 27705, USA. samsa001@mc.duke.edu
authors.forename: Gregory P
authors.initials: GP
authors.lastname: Samsa
authors.forename: Joseph
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Govert
authors.forename: David B
authors.initials: DB
authors.lastname: Matchar
authors.forename: Douglas C
authors.initials: DC
authors.lastname: McCrory
mesh_terms: D019317:Evidence-Based Medicine / Q000379:methods*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008171:Lung Diseases / Q000209:etiology* / Q000628:therapy*; D008297:Male; D011379:Prognosis; D016032:Randomized Controlled Trials as Topic; D018570:Risk Assessment; D012307:Risk Factors; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D012720:Severity of Illness Index; D013119:Spinal Cord Injuries / Q000150:complications* / Q000175:diagnosis; D016896:Treatment Outcome