Hierarchy of Evidence
The way to rate and rank the quality of an article (helps to validate an article)
The Hierarchy of Evidence Table (in notes)
Systematic Review
A comprehensive summary of evidence on a specific topic that also involves appraising the evidence (all literature available should be reflected on that given topic)
Meta-Analysis
A type of statistical summary that uses results of several RCTs to derive the result (pooling of trials and gathering of statistics in order to have a larger sample size)
Hierarchy of Evidence (order of study types, highest to lowest)
- RCT
- Cohort Study
- Case Control Study
- Case Report/Case Series
- Expert Opinion
Randomized Control Trial (RCT)
A clinical study that uses a randomization process to assign subjects to experimental/treatment group or control group
Cohort Study
- Observational, Prospective, NOT Randomized
- Subjects with certain condition/treatment are followed over period of time and are compared to subjects without that condition/treatment
Case Control Study
- Retrospective
- Studying patients with pre-existing conditions and matching them to patients without the condition
Case Report/Case Series
- Descriptive
- Describes management of a subject or a few subjects to record responses to treatment(s)
Expert Opinion
- The lowest quality study that simply is just the opinion of a professional without a study attached to it
