ESTIMATING THE BENEFIT OF A NATIONAL PROVISION OF COCHRANE REVIEWS

Purpose: Cochrane Reviews summarize the available evidence on numerous health interventions and present it in a format understandable by professionals and lay persons. Although one would therefore expect Cochrane Reviews to be readily accessible to patients and doctors, only few countries offer national access. This study quantifies the benefit of nationally providing access to high quality evidence.

Method(s): We combine web traffic data of the Cochrane Database and publicly available data on country characteristics. Using these data and OLS regression, we construct linear models that estimate downloads and summary views of Cochrane Reviews. Using these estimates, we compute the expected benefit of a national provision for each OECD country.

Result(s): The results indicate that a national provision would substantially multiply the number of review downloads for most OECD member states. In addition, we estimate that the additional cost of a national provision is likely low for most countries.

Conclusion(s): There appears to be substantial demand for medical evidence that is currently unmet. A national provision offers an effective way to meet this demand and offer decision makers access to high-quality medical evidence.