From: Outcomes research in the development and evaluation of practice guidelines
Outcome = | Exposure + | Confounders + | Error |
---|---|---|---|
• Clinical outcomes (for example, disease development, complications) | • Practice patterns | • Extraneous factors that can influence practice patterns and outcomes, that is, initial conditions | • Misclassification of diagnosis, practice patterns and outcomes |
• Quality |  |  | • Error in measurement of practice patterns and outcomes |
• Cost |  |  |  |
• Appropriateness |  |  | • Unmeasured factors |