Agreement between reported use of interventions for liver diseases and research evidence in Cochrane systematic reviews

In July 2002, the Cochrane Hepato-Biliary Group had completed 28 systematic reviews on 36 interventions that were available in Denmark. Based on the reviews, three interventions with significant beneficial effects on clinical outcomes were classified as ‘evidence-based’, whereas 19 were classified as ‘possibly evidence-based’, and 14 as ‘not evidence-based’.

The proportion of physicians who reported that they never used the three evidence-based interventions varied considerably (2, 62, and 57%, respectively).The perceived intervention effect, duration of clinical experience, employment as head of department, and university hospital employment were significant predictors of more frequent use of evidence-based interventions.

Physicians also reported that they used the interventions that were not evidence-based more often if they were employed at a university hospital.

Considerable disagreements between reported use and research evidence were identified. Additional research on methods to introduce evidence-based medicine in practice seems warranted.