Powered by the Evidence-based Practice Centers
Evidence Reports All of EHC
Evidence Reports All of EHC

SHARE:

FacebookTwitterFacebookPrintShare

Observational Evidence and Strength of Evidence Domains: Case Examples

White Paper Apr 23, 2014
Download PDF files for this report here.

Page Contents

People using assistive technology may not be able to fully access information in these files. For additional assistance, please contact us.

Structured Abstract

Background

Systematic reviews of health care interventions most often focus on randomized controlled trials. However, certain circumstances warrant consideration of observational evidence, and such studies are increasingly being included as evidence in systematic reviews.

Methods

To illustrate the use of observational evidence, we present case examples of systematic reviews in which observational evidence was considered as well as case examples of individual observational studies and how they demonstrate various strength of evidence domains in accordance with current AHRQ Evidence-based Practice Center methods guidance.

Results

In the presented examples, observational evidence is used when randomized controlled trials are infeasible or raise ethical concerns, lack generalizability, or provide insufficient data. Individual study case examples highlight how observational evidence may fulfill required strength of evidence domains, such as study limitations (reduced risk of selection, detection, performance, and attrition); directness; consistency; precision; and reporting bias (publication, selective outcome reporting, and selective analysis reporting), as well as additional domains of dose-response association, plausible confounding that would decrease the observed effect, and strength of association (magnitude of effect).

Conclusions

The cases highlighted in this paper demonstrate how observational studies may provide moderate- to (rarely) high-strength evidence in systematic reviews.

Journal Publications

O'Neil M, Berkman N, Hartling L, et al. Observational evidence and strength of evidence domains: case examples. Systematic Reviews 2014, 3:35

Project Timeline

Observational Evidence and Strength of Evidence Domains: Case Examples

Apr 23, 2014
Topic Initiated
Apr 23, 2014
White Paper
Page last reviewed November 2017
Page originally created November 2017

Internet Citation: White Paper: Observational Evidence and Strength of Evidence Domains: Case Examples. Content last reviewed November 2017. Effective Health Care Program, Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, Rockville, MD.
https://effectivehealthcare.ahrq.gov/products/evidence-examples/white-paper

Select to copy citation