2015 Articles

Open access to economic outcome data will help to bridge the gap between clinical trials and clinical guidelines

Ladapo, Joseph A.; Fang, Yixin; Davidson, Karina W.; Braithwaite, R. Scott

Buoyed by a burgeoning medical culture of “appropriate use” and rising doctor awareness of the financial ruin that threatens many patients who navigate expensive treatments in pursuit of better health, medical specialist societies have grown increasingly vocal about integrating economic value in their clinical guidelines. These encouraging developments are, however, threatened by a worsening decline in the generalisability of randomised controlled trials, a concern supported by widening differences between the characteristics of patients enrolled in trials and those of the populations targeted for intervention outside trials.