PubMed Health

To browse other articles on a range of HSL topics, see the wiki index.

Introduction

See also PubMed | MedlinePlus (U.S.)

In 2011, the US National Library of Medicine announced the release of a new clinical effectiveness research website called PubMed Health. What is PubMed Health? Is it a consumer version of PubMed – the world’s largest biomedical database? A version of MedlinePlus, NLM’s trusted source of consumer health information? Is PubMed Health a combination? The truth is: PubMed Health is something new. I can’t think of any source of information about human health that is quite like it – except perhaps the Cochrane Collaboration’s consumer summaries.

What is it?

Put simply, PubMed Health provides integrated access to 18,000 clinical effectiveness reviews. It organizes these clinical effectiveness research results for you and provides links to full text, summary information for consumers and clinicians, and other research.

See PubMed Health's Consumer Summaries

What is clinical effectiveness?

PubMed Health is based on systematic reviews of clinical trials, showing what treatments and prevention methods have been proven to work, and what remains unknown. The PubMed Health database has been built in partnership with the US's Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ), the UK's National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE), the German Institute for Quality and Efficiency in Health Care (IQWiG), and The Cochrane Collaboration, among others.

In order to assess whether treatments work, all important effects need to be studied. This includes possible harms as well as possible benefits. Clinical or health effects are sometimes called patient-relevant outcomes. Systematic reviews often show which treatments and prevention methods have been proven to work as well as what remains unknown. Being clear about what is certain is an important part of informed decision-making, and evidence-based health care. Systematic reviews are the basis for what is often called evidence-based medicine or health care. And they are important for pointing to areas where more research is needed. Other names for this kind of research are "evidence syntheses", "comparative effectiveness reviews", and "health technology assessments".

Partners in PubMed Health

PubMed Health has partnered with Cochrane and the following groups:

• Agency for Health Care Research and Quality (US) (AHRQ)
• Cochrane Collaboration (CC)
• Department of Veterans Affairs’ Evidence-based Synthesis Program from the Veterans Health Administration R&D (VA ESP)
• England’s Behind the Headlines service is from the National Health Service (NHS Choices)
• German Institute for Quality and Efficiency in Health Care (IQWiG)
• National Health Service (NHS) National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) Health Technology Assessment Programme (NIHR HTA)
• National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence guidelines program (NICE)
• Oregon Health and Science University’s Drug Effectiveness Review Project (DERP)

PubMed Health is a metasearch tool

I’d describe PubMed Health as a metasearch tool that gathers evidence from the above sites to see clinical studies and “what works” in human health. Searchers can locate systematic reviews of clinical trials – in other words, clinical effectiveness reviews to show what treatments work and what is unknown – and other syntheses of medical knowledge. One major benefit of PubMed Health (which might make it popular) is that any search performed on PubMed Health also runs in PubMed. A filter is used to identify articles that might be systematic reviews. It includes articles from before 2003.

If that weren’t enough PubMed Health uses a medical encyclopedia and medication information from A.D.A.M. Education and the American Society of Health-Systems Pharmacists.