Are principles of evidence-based medicine taken into account in the area of pharmacology?
Lander, T.; Volmer, T.
Zeitschrift für Arztliche Fortbildung und Qualitatssicherung 93(6): 409-419
1999
ISSN/ISBN: 1431-7621 PMID: 10519190 Document Number: 504877
Scientific literature published in the early 1980s claimed that only 15% of medical interventions are based on scientific evidence (57). Lately, a number of published articles concluded that ca. 80% of the interventions in family medicine (18, 25) and ca. 60% of those in psychiatry fulfil these criteria (24). Did medical practice change so fundamentally? Hard to believe. But to what extent do physicians practice evidence-based medicine as newer publications also constitute a level of science-based interventions across all medical disciplines of only 21% (17)? This article tries to highlight and discuss which observations can be made regarding the compliance to principles of 'evidence based medicine' in one of the most important field of medical interventions--drug therapy. Taking the submarkets of cardiovascular and respiratory drugs as an example, the authors try to identify and discuss effects and obstacles to implement evidence-based pharmacotherapy, and how the latter might be overcome in the future.