APPLICABILITY

From Users’ Guides to the Medical Literature Evidence-Based Medicine Working Group

Biologic: “Can it work?”

Are there pathophysiologic differences in the illness under study that may lead to a

diminished treatment response?

Are there patient differences that may diminish the treatment response?

Social and Economic: “Will it work?”

Are there important differences in patient compliance that may diminish the treatment

response?

Are there important differences in provider compliance that may diminish the treatment

response?

Epidemiologic: “Should it work?”

Do my patients have comorbid conditions that significantly alter the potential benefits

and risks of treatment?

Are there important differences in untreated patients’ risk of adverse outcomes that might

alter the efficiency of treatment?

Reference: JAMA 1998 279:545-549

Generalizability:

Extent to which conclusions derived from a trial can be used beyond the setting of the

trial and the particular people enrolled in it.

Inference:

To arrive at a conclusion; The act of taking information from published

experience and individualizing to specific patients.

Strength of Inference:

How dogmatic a clinician feels about applying published experience to individual

patients; Significantly influenced by the hierarchy of the validity of available evidence.