Prostate cancer: 10. Palliative care

Table 1: Criteria for evaluating reports of an intervention and attributing causation*

Evaluating reports of an intervention Were subjects assigned randomly to receive the intervention? Were all clinically important outcomes reported? Were the study patients similar to your own? Were both clinical and statistical significance considered? Is the intervention feasible in your practice? Were all patients accounted for at the end of the study? Attributing causation Is there a true experiment in humans? Is the association strong? Is the association consistent between studies of the same question? Is the temporal relationship correct? Is there a dose–response relationship? Is the association epidemiologically sensible? Does the association make sense biologically? Is the association specific? Is the association analogous to a previously proven causal association?

*Adapted from CMAJ with permission.3,4

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