Authors
- Seyyed Morteza Kazemi, MD
- Seyed Mehdi Hosseini Khameneh, MD
- Siavash Hemati Islamloo, MD
- Ramin Farhang Zanganeh, MD
- Mohammad Reza Bigdeli, MD
- Seyyed Mohammad Ghoreishi, MD
Abstract
Background: Prior to 1980 decade, surgical ideas and facts were mainly based on the individual surgeon’s experience and the collective judgment of groups of surgeons. In the 1980’s the concept of “Evidence Based Medicine” became popular suggesting that all surgical practices must be based on evidence and not experience. According to the widespread publication of medical articles nowadays, the question often arises about the dependability and strength of the evidence. We are reporting the level of evidence (LOE) of articles published in the Journal of the Iranian Orthopaedic Association between 1995 and 2008. Methods: All the articles published in the Iranian Journal of Orthopaedic Surgery (1995-2008) were studied separately by 5 groups of physicians. The level of evidence rating system was based on the Journal of Bone and Joint Surgery, which classifies articles into therapeutic, prognostic, diagnostic and economic subgroups. The articles are subsequently divided into five levels in accordance with the defined levels of evidence.Results: Over half of the articles (54%) were therapeutic, 9% diagnostic, 35% prognostic and 2% economic. Overall 2% were placed as level I, 8% level II, 5% level III, 84% level IV and 1% level V.Conclusion: Therapeutic and prognostic articles and evidence level IV were the most common types observable in the articles published in the Iranian Journal of Orthopaedic Surgery. Furthermore, level I to III articles in this journal had increased over 3.5 times between 1995 and 2008.
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