Simplifying the language of evidence to improve patient care: Strength of recommendation taxonomy (SORT) : a patient-centered approach to grading evidence in medical literature
Ebell, M.H.; Siwek, J.; Weiss, B.D.; Woolf, S.H.; Susman, J.L.; Ewigman, B.; Bowman, M.
Journal of Family Practice 53(2): 111-120
2004
ISSN/ISBN: 0094-3509 PMID: 14764293 Document Number: 568392
Several taxonomies exist for rating individual studies and the strength of recommendations, making the analysis of evidence confusing for practitioners. A new grading scale-the Strength of Recommendation Taxonomy (SORT)-will be used by several family medicine and primary care journals (required or optional), allowing readers to learn 1 consistently applied taxonomy of evidence. SORT is built around the information mastery framework, which emphasizes the use of patient-oriented outcomes that measure changes in morbidity or mortality. Levels of evidence from 1 to 3 for individual studies also are defined. An A-level recommendation is based on consistent and good-quality patient-oriented evidence; a B-level recommendation is based on inconsistent or limited-quality patient-oriented evidence; and a C-level recommendation is based on consensus, usual practice, opinion, disease-oriented evidence, or case series for studies of diagnosis, treatment, prevention, or screening.