Medical reversals are practices that have been found to be no better than prior or lesser standards of care. But it can be difficult to identify these practices.
In a recent study from Oregon Health & Science University and elsewhere, researchers have identified nearly 400 medical practices that are ineffective.
Their findings may encourage the de-adoption of these practices (or medical reversals) and make patient care more efficient and cost-effective.
The study is published in eLife. The lead author is Diana Herrera-Perez, a Research Assistant at the Knight Cancer Institute.
In the study, the team wanted to provide a large and comprehensive list for clinicians and researchers and to guide practice.
They conducted an analysis of research published over 15 years in three leading general medical journals. The analysis revealed 396 medical reversals from 3,000 articles.
They found heart disease was the most commonly represented medical category among the reversals (20%), followed by public health/preventive medicine (12%) and critical care (11%).
In terms of the type of intervention, medication was the most common (33%), followed by a procedure (20%) and vitamins and/or supplements (13%).
The team explains that once an ineffective practice is established, it may be difficult to convince practitioners to abandon its use.
By testing novel treatments rigorously before they become widespread, it is possible to reduce the number of reversals in practice and prevent unnecessary harm to patients.
The team hopes their results can serve as a starting point for researchers, policymakers, and payers who wish to have a list of practices that likely offer no net benefit to use in future work.
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