Atle Fretheim

..We wanted to describe prescribing patterns of antihypertensive drugs in ten countries and explore possible reasons for inter-country variation...

..We also report the results of a post hoc exercise and survey we carried out to evaluate our approach for identifying barriers and tailoring interventions...

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..We evaluated the effects of a tailored intervention to support the implementation of systematically developed guidelines for the use of antihypertensive and cholesterol-lowering drugs for the primary prevention of cardiovascular disease...

..The increased use of thiazides was not expected to have an impact on health outcomes...

..The objective of the new regulation was to reduce drug expenditures...

..Our objective was to determine which display resulted in choices most consistent with participants' values...

..Valerian is an herbal over-the-counter drug that is widely used for insomnia. Systematic reviews have found inconsistent and inconclusive results about its effects...

..What strategies should be considered in planning the implementation of a new policy in order to facilitate the necessary systems changes?..

..to answer the following research question: What are the relative effects of different classes of antihypertensive drugs in reducing the incidence of cardiovascular disease outcomes for healthy people at risk of cardiovascular disease?..

..Evidence-informed policymaking helps policymakers gain an understanding of these processes...

..Are there important considerations that should be made when implementing the option in order to ensure that inequities are reduced, if possible, and that they are not increased?..

..How should the quality of the available local evidence be assessed? 4. Are there important variations in the availability, quality or results of local evidence? 5. How should local evidence be incorporated with other information?..

..What evidence is there for important impacts on resource use? 3. How confident is it possible to be in the evidence for impacts on resource use? 4. Have the impacts on resource use been valued appropriately in terms of their true costs?..

..What strategies can be used when working with civil society groups to inform and engage them in policy development and implementation? 3. What methods can be used to involve consumers in policy development and implementation?..

..Has inconclusive evidence been misinterpreted as evidence of no effect? 3. Is it possible to be confident about a decision despite a lack of evidence? 4. Is the option potentially harmful, ineffective or not worth the cost?..

..These are: 1. Is monitoring necessary? 2. What should be measured? 3. Should an impact evaluation be conducted? 4. How should the impact evaluation be done?..

..What strategies should be used to ensure the use of systematic and transparent methods for accessing, appraising and using research evidence? 5. What strategies should be used to ensure adequate capacity to employ these methods?..

..Was the search for relevant studies detailed and reasonably comprehensive? 4. Were assessments of the studies' relevance to the review topic and of their risk of bias reproducible? 5. Were the results similar from study to study?..

..How confident can policymakers and others be in the estimated impacts? 5. Is a formal economic model likely to facilitate decision making?..

..A review of evidence on effectiveness is therefore timely, especially as this is an area of growing interest for funders and governments...

..We examined the use of evidence, particularly evidence of effects, in recommendations developed by WHO departments...

..Results-based financing is widely advocated for achieving health goals, including the Millennium Development Goals...

..RBF is being promoted for helping to achieve the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs)...

..We have used systematic and explicit methods in the development of a new set of recommendations. This is the first of three articles describing these guidelines...

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..We have used systematic and explicit methods in the development of a new set of recommendations. This is the second of three articles describing these guidelines...

..We have used systematic and explicit methods in developing a new set of recommendations. This is the last of three articles describing these guidelines...

..To assess the association between methods used to develop clinical practice guidelines and the recommendations that are made...

..Many guidelines are not developed from systematic models and are not based on high-quality evidence. The existence of a guideline does not in itself lead to changes in practice and many guidelines are not used once they have been issued...

..Despite this, the use of thiazides is much lower than that of other drug-classes. We wanted to estimate the potential for savings if thiazides were used as the first choice drug for the management of uncomplicated hypertension...

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..Continuing education should ensure that a doctor provides effective care based on the best available evidence. But not all continuing education is equally effective...