title: Guidelines--are they useful?
abstract: Antiepileptic drug (AED) guidelines are developed to improve medical decision making, to provide guidance and recommendation for patient management, to develop standards to judge or assess clinical practice, and to keep the cost-benefit ratio at an acceptable level. These guidelines are derived from evidence-based medicine (EBM), a four-tiered grading system that is used to analyze clinical trials and published experiments independent of clinical bias and experience. Although guidelines may not answer all questions it is critical that clinicians using them consider the available evidence, as well as the quality of the evidence, when incorporating the information in their decision making.
authors.affiliation: Department of Clinical Neuroscience, Sahlgrenska Academy, Goteborg University, Goteborg, Sweden.
authors.forename: Elinor
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Ben-Menachem
authors.forename: Jacqueline A
authors.initials: JA
authors.lastname: French
mesh_terms: D000927:Anticonvulsants / Q000191:economics / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D002986:Clinical Trials as Topic / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D003362:Cost-Benefit Analysis; D004827:Epilepsy / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000191:economics; D019317:Evidence-Based Medicine / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D006801:Humans; D017063:Outcome Assessment, Health Care / Q000379:methods; D017410:Practice Guidelines as Topic / Q000592:standards*; D010818:Practice Patterns, Physicians' / Q000191:economics / Q000592:standards*; D011364:Professional Practice / Q000191:economics / Q000592:standards; D016032:Randomized Controlled Trials as Topic / Q000706:statistics & numerical data
chemical_list: D000927:Anticonvulsants