02-22-2023 Primetime Living - Flipbook - Page 27
A Special Advertising Section of Baltimore Sun Media Group | Wednesday, February 22, 2023 27
Self-care, continued
from page 11
Understanding the USPSTF Grades
“The U.S. Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF) assigns one of five letter grades (A, B, C, D, or I).
For C recommendations, clinicians should take into account the patient, the patient’s history and any risk factors to have “an informed conversation.”
Grade
A
Definition
Suggestions for Practice
The USPSTF recommends the service. There is high certainty that the
Offer or provide this service.
net benefit is substantial.
B
The USPSTF recommends the
service. There is high certainty that
the net benefit is moderate or there
is moderate certainty that the net
benefit is moderate to substantial.
C
The USPSTF recommends selectively offering or providing this service to individual patients based on Offer or provide this service for
professional judgment and patient
selected patients depending
preferences. There is at least mod- on individual circumstances.
erate certainty that the net benefit
is small.
D
I
Statement
Offer or provide this service.
The USPSTF recommends against
the service. There is moderate or
high certainty that the service has
no net benefit or that the harms
outweigh the benefits.
Discourage the use of this
service.
The USPSTF concludes that the
current evidence is insufficient to
assess the balance of benefits and
harms of the service. Evidence is
lacking, of poor quality, or conflicting, and the balance of benefits
and harms cannot be determined.
Read the clinical considerations section of USPSTF
Recommendation Statement.
If the service is offered,
patients should understand
the uncertainty about the balance of benefits and harms.
Levels of Certainty Regarding Net Benefit
Level of
Certainty*
High
Moderate
Low
Description
The available evidence usually includes consistent results from
well-designed, well-conducted studies in representative primary
care populations. These studies assess the effects of the preventive service on health outcomes. This conclusion is therefore
unlikely to be strongly affected by the results of future studies.
The available evidence is sufficient to determine the effects of the
preventive service on health outcomes, but confidence in the estimate is constrained by such factors as:
• The number, size, or quality of individual studies.
• Inconsistency of findings across individual studies.
• Limited generalizability of findings to routine primary care practice.
• Lack of coherence in the chain of evidence.
As more information becomes available, the magnitude or direction of the observed effect could change, and this change may be
large enough to alter the conclusion.
The available evidence is insufficient to assess effects on health
outcomes. Evidence is insufficient because of:
• The limited number or size of studies.
• Important flaws in study design or methods.
• Inconsistency of findings across individual studies.
• Gaps in the chain of evidence.
• Findings not generalizable to routine primary care practice.
• Lack of information on important health outcomes.
More information may allow estimation of effects on health outcomes.
*The USPSTF defines certainty as “likelihood that the USPSTF assessment of the net benefit of a preventive service is correct.” The net benefit is defined as benefit minus
harm of the preventive service as implemented in a general, primary care population. The USPSTF assigns a certainty level based on the nature of the overall evidence
available to assess the net benefit of a preventive service. Source: https://www.uspreventiveservicestaskforce.org/uspstf/about-uspstf/methods-and-processes/grade-definitions