Applicability of evidence from randomized controlled trials and systematic reviews to clinical practice: A conceptual review.
Antti Malmivaara
PMID 33977305WHAT IT FOUND
This paper proposes concepts and principles for judging whether trial results apply to real patients.
It offers no data on patient outcomes or treatment effects, so there is nothing here to change clinical practice with.
What this paper is
This is a conceptual narrative review proposing definitions and principles for assessing the applicability (generalizability) of evidence from randomized controlled trials to clinical practice. It presents theoretical propositions and a benchmarking framework for researchers and authors to use when planning, reporting, or appraising studies. It reports no patient outcomes, no intervention effects, and no empirical findings, so there is nothing here to change clinical practice with.
The easy way to misread this
Do not treat this as a review of clinical evidence or a guide to patient management. It is a theoretical paper about research methodology, offering no findings on the effectiveness of any intervention.