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Refining the E in EBM: from Tamiflu to statins

Monday July 15th

The session will briefly explore the evidence of distortion introduced into systematic reviews by the the inclusion of data sources affected by hard to detect reporting bias. And explore the question of whether given the evidence of distortion of trial reporting we should ignore evidence from journal articles. This is because by the law of Garbage In Garbage Out, whatever is produced in our reviews will be systematically assembled and synthesised garbage. The session will also discuss practical ways to change the evidence base of reviews of pharmacuticals interventions and barriers to such actions. Discussion will be maximised and frontal input will be minimal.

Tom Jefferson is the first author of the first systematic review carried out solely on regulatory submissions by industry for a family of drugs as illustrated in the James Lind Library Timeline.

For background attendees are invited too read the 800-worder Jefferson T and Jørgensen L. Redefining the ‘E’ in EBM. BMJ Evid Based Med. 2018 Mar 9;23:46-47. https://doi.org/10.1136/bmjebm-2018-110918.

There is a Spanish language translation of this article available as a data supplement.

There is an Italian language version of this article here”

2017 Highlights