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eCAM Advance Access originally published online on February 5, 2006
eCAM 2006 3(1):3-12; doi:10.1093/ecam/nek017
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© The Author (2006). Published by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved
The online version of this article has been published under an open access model. Users are entitled to use, reproduce, disseminate, or display the open access version of this article for non-commercial purposes provided that: the original authorship is properly and fully attributed; the Journal and Oxford University Press are attributed as the original place of publication with the correct citation details given; if an article is subsequently reproduced or disseminated not in its entirety but only in part or as a derivative work this must be clearly indicated. For commercial re-use, please contact journals.permissions@oxfordjournals.org

Lecture Series

Evidence-Based Research in Complementary and Alternative Medicine II: The Process of Evidence-Based Research

Francesco Chiappelli1,2,3, Paolo Prolo1,2,3, Monica Rosenblum4, Myeshia Edgerton1,5 and Olivia S. Cajulis6

1Division of Oral Biology & Medicine, UCLA School of Dentistry CHS 63-090, Los Angeles CA, USA, 2West Los Angeles Veterans Administration Medical Center CA, USA, 3Psychoneuroimmunology Group, Inc. CA, USA, 4California State University Northridge CA, USA, 5Tufts University Dental School CA, USA, and 6Dental Group of Sherman Oaks, Inc. CA, USA

It is a common practice in contemporary medicine to follow stringently the scientific method in the process of validating efficacy and effectiveness of new or improved modes of treatment intervention. It follows that these complementary or alternative interventions must be validated by stringent research before they can be reliably integrated into Western medicine. The next decades will witness an increasing number of evidence-based research directed at establishing the best available evidence in complementary and alternative medicine (CAM). This second paper in this lecture series examines the process of evidence-based research (EBR) in the context of CAM. We outline the fundamental principles, process and relevance of EBR, and its implication to CAM. We underscore areas of future development in EBR. We note that the main problem of applying EBR to CAM at present has to do with the fact that the contribution of EBR can be significant only to the extent to which studies used in the process of EBR are of good quality. All too often CAM research is not of sufficient quality to warrant the generation of a consensus statement. EBR, nevertheless, can contribute to CAM by identifying current weaknesses of CAM research. We present a revised instrument to assess quality of the literature.

Keywords: evidence-based research – systematic review – consolidated standards of randomized trials – Markov model – complementary and alternative medicine

For reprints and all correspondence: Francesco Chiappelli, Ph D, Division of Oral Biology & Medicine, UCLA School of Dentistry, CHS 63-090, Los Angeles, CA 90095-1668, USA. Tel: +1-310-794-6625; Fax: +1-310-794-7109; E-mail: chiappelli{at}dent.ucla.edu


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