ABSTRACT
Comparative effectiveness research (CER) is research that compares the results of one approach for managing a disease to the results of other approaches (Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality [AHRQ], n.d.). In a nutshell, CER is concerned with finding out “what works” in health care. Decision makers use high quality, comprehensive findings about benefits and harms associated with a particular course of action to inform decisions about clinical care and health policy. The CER approach can be applied to any aspect of health care whether surgery, configuration of services, or methods of pain relief. This chapter is concerned with how the available evidence across a particular health care topic is summarized in systematic reviews and how, within a systematic review, results of separate studies are statistically pooled using meta-analysis.
