The Evidence Hierarchy: The Medical Research You Can Trust!
The EBM Evidence Hierarchy: Which Medical Studies Can You Actually Trust? Evidence-based Medicine (EBM) requires medical research to underpin clinical practice and policy. A survival guide is needed for decoding medical research. There is a need for a rule-of-thumb to classify research as either evidentiary or non-evidentiary, i.e., an evidence ladder. This is based on study design and ranks the most valid or bias-free designs highest. Randomized trials rank higher than cohort studies, which in turn rank higher than case-control studies. Case reports, expert opinions and consensus are not considered evidentiary. This vlog explains how precision is added to validity in refining the evidence hierarchy.