Case Reports
Co-founder - The EQUATOR Network
Case reports provide information on effectiveness in a real world clinical setting, complementing the information on efficacy from prospective clinical trials. Historically, case reports have identified adverse and beneficial effects, new or rare diseases, and unusual presentations of even common diseases. Efficacy evidence from clinical trials and effectiveness evidence from case reports offer unique perspectives on both the creation and implementation of clinical practice guidelines.
The publication of case reports in indexed medical journals increased by 45% between 2000 and 2010 [Sun 2013]. The CARE guidelines for case reports were developed by an international group of experts to provide authors guidance when they present and publish case reports. The CARE guidelines have been widely translated and endorsed by multiple medical journals.
SWIHM’s online training course following the CARE guidelines along with our online application CARE-writer provide tools for creating evidence-based case reports for presentation or publication. We also support the Equator Network’s efforts to improve the transparency and accuracy of all health research publications.
Figure 1 – The primary health research reporting guidelines for categories of evidence-based medicine.
Stakeholders benefit when high-quality case reports are written to provide:
Patients with accurate information on therapeutic options.
Clinicians with improved peer-to-peer communication and better clinical reasoning.
Researchers with hypotheses from real-world healthcare delivery.
Medical education with support for case-based learning.
Policy makers with feedback on effectiveness in the real world of healthcare delivery.
Medical journals with tools for evaluating case reports.