Negative Results in Evidence Based Medicine: Huh?

Tim Christie writes in the Eugene Register-Guard that Evidence Based Medicine (EBM) has taken full root. Once personal experience, medical authority, or anecdotal evidence were the physicians' bases for a medical decision. With the latest data from randomized controled trials and meta-analyses streaming to their palm pilots, EBM is used by clinicians to make treatment decisions. EBM standards are also used by journals to pick publishable papers and by continuing education programs to teach docs.

And lets not forget about a payers interest in paying for interventions that actually work. Really, isn't this just common sense? Dr. Norman Kahn, of the American Academy of Family Physicians: "Physicians yearn to deliver what works," "So when they learn there is evidence for this vs. no evidence for that, they are rapid adopters."

The missing piece in this account is that sometimes, as we've seen lately, "no evidence" really means "suppressed negative results." - Dominic Sisti