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Alcohol and Alcoholism Vol. 38, No. 5, pp. 443-445, 2003
© 2003 Medical Council on Alcohol

LETTER TO THE EDITOR

REPLY TO THE COMMENTARY BY KARI POIKOLAINEN ON EVALUATION OF THE EFFECT OF TREATMENT OF ALCOHOL AND DRUG PROBLEMS BY THE SWEDISH COUNCIL ON TECHNOLOGY ASSESSMENT IN HEALTH CARE (SBU)

Mats Berglund* and Sten Thelander1

Department of Clinical Alcohol Research, Lund University, Malmö University Hospital, Malmö and
1 The Swedish Council on Technology Assessment in Health Care, Stockholm, Sweden

(Received 1 April 2003; accepted 1 April 2003)

The first 10% of the full text of this article appears below.

We appreciate the careful reading and evaluation of the Swedish Council on Technology Assessment in Health Care (SBU, 2001Go) report by Dr Poikolainen (SBU, 2002). Poikolainen discusses several important issues, not only related to the report but also to systematic reviews in general. First, we shall comment on the SBU methodology.

SBU METHODOLOGY

It is important to stress that the methodology applied is basically a series of systematic reviews of the available literature. The use of meta-analytical procedures depends on the character of the studies on the different topics. In most previous SBU reports meta-analytical techniques have not been applied. In our opinion, the development of meta-analytical methodology and the availability of effective software for performing meta-analytical calculations have made this . . . [Full Text of this Article]

SHORTCOMINGS OF THE SWEDISH VERSION OF THE SBU REPORT

Incorrect presentation of effect sizes
Meta-analytical procedures did not include calculations of homogeneity/heterogeneity and search for moderator effects
Lack of chapter on methodology
Problems with data abstracting

ADDITIONAL ISSUES

D-statistics and dichotomous data
Brief intervention
Project MATCH study
Review verdict

CONCLUSIONS


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K. Poikolainen
REPLY: THE SBU EVALUATION OF THE EFFECT OF TREATMENT OF ALCOHOL AND DRUG PROBLEMS
Alcohol Alcohol., September 1, 2003; 38(5): 445 - 445.
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