The Levels of Evidence and Their Role in Evidence-Based Medicine

As the name suggests, evidence-based medicine is about finding evidence and using that evidence to make clinical decisions. A cornerstone of evidence-based medicine is the hierarchical system of classifying evidence. This hierarchy is known as the levels of evidence. Physicians are encouraged to find the highest level of evidence to answer clinical questions. Several articles published in plastic surgery journals concerning evidence-based medicine topics have touched on this subject.1–6 Specifically, previous articles have discussed the lack of higher level evidence in Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery and the need to improve the evidence published in the Journal. Before that can be accomplished, it is…