A nice try that fails: the Swedish Council on Technology Assessment in Health Care (SBU) evaluation of the effect of treatment of alcohol and drug problems: the epidemiologist's view.
OBJECTIVE
The Swedish Council on Technology Assessment in Health Care (SBU) has recently published a large, >800-page systematic review. It reviews brief interventions to reduce alcohol intake, long-term prognosis of substance dependence, obstetric questions and economic aspects of addiction treatments. The main part aims to evaluate treatments on alcohol and other addictive substances by meta-analytical techniques.


CONCLUSIONS
The report summarizes 641 individual studies. Unfortunately, several methods are weak, some inadequately documented, and many conclusions rest on shaky grounds.
Poikolainen
Kari
K
Finnish Foundation for Alcohol Studies, PO Box 220, FIN-00531 Helsinki, Finland.
D000437:Alcoholism / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000628:therapy*; D006286:Health Planning Councils / Q000592:standards; D006801:Humans; D015201:Meta-Analysis as Topic; D019966:Substance-Related Disorders / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000628:therapy; D013548:Sweden / Q000453:epidemiology; D013673:Technology Assessment, Biomedical / Q000379:methods* / Q000592:standards