Making public health interventions more evidence based

doi:10.1136/bmj.328.7446.966

BMJ 2004;328:966-967 (24 April), doi:10.1136/bmj.328.7446.966

Editorial

Making public health interventions more evidence based

TREND statement for non-randomised designs will make a difference

The first 150 words of the full text of this article appear below.

The movement towards evidence based public health policy hasbeen gaining momentum over the past decade. It takes an importantstep forward with the recent publication of the TREND statement(transparent reporting of evaluations with non-randomised designs).¹Its aim is to improve the quality of reporting of non-randomisedevaluations so that the conduct and findings of such researchare transparent and information that is critical for researchsynthesis is not missing, and to do for public health evaluationswhat the CONSORT statement has done for randomised controlledtrials.²

The publication of the TREND statement reflects the increasingrecognition that successful evaluation of public health interventionswill necessarily entail the use of research designs other thancontrolled trials^3-5 and various types of evidence, often incombination.^4
6 The reasons for using such interventions includethe following.

Firstly, the intervention is already well established or itsdelivery is by nature widespread—for example, evaluation. . . [Full text of this article]

Betty Kirkwood, professor of epidemiology and international health

Nutrition and Public Health Intervention Research Unit, Department of Epidemiology and Population Health, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, London WC1E 7HT (betty.kirkwood@lshtm.ac.uk)

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