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Table 2 Characteristics of population- and patient-oriented research

From: Patient-centered medicine and patient-oriented research: improving health outcomes for individual patients

Population-oriented research

Patient-oriented research

Paradigm: Randomized clinical trials

No paradigm: observational and experimental research

Focuses on the “generalization” of results

Focuses on the “individualization” of results

Efficacy in average patients

Effectiveness in subgroups of patients and individual patients

Absolute efficacy

Comparative effectiveness

Identify the percentage of patients who will respond to an intervention

Identify which options are more effective for which patients

Evaluation of interventions

Evaluation of patients and their diseases

Analysis of homogeneity

Analysis of heterogeneity

A posteriori subgroup analysis

Subgroups identified a priori

Aggregation: the study of commonalities

Disaggregation: the study of differences

Inductive logic

Hypothetic-deductive logic

Exploratory observations and confirmatory trials

Exploratory trials and confirmatory observations

Minimizes the value of observations, exceptions, and case series

Assigns greater value to observations, exceptions, and case series

Distinction between clinical practice and research

Integration of clinical practice and research

From bench-to-bedside

From bedside-to-bench

Evidence-based medicine

Medicine-based evidence