The Swedish Agency for Health Technology Assessment and Assessment of Social Services ( sv, Statens beredning för medicinsk och social utvärdering, SBU) previously the ''Swedish Council on Health Technology Assessment'' is an independent Swedish governmental agency tasked with assessing and evaluating methods in use in

healthcare Health care or healthcare is the improvement of health via the prevention, diagnosis, treatment, amelioration or cure of disease, illness, injury, and other physical and mental impairments in people. Health care is delivered by health profe ...

and

social services Social services are a range of public services intended to provide support and assistance towards particular groups, which commonly include the disadvantaged. They may be provided by individuals, private and independent organisations, or administe ...

. SBU is tasked with summarizing and communicating evidence and is a knowledge center for both healthcare and social services in Sweden. The agency performs review by systematically searching the literature, evaluating, assuring quality, and weighing together results. SBU does not carry out any original research beyond

meta-analysis A meta-analysis is a statistical analysis that combines the results of multiple scientific studies. Meta-analyses can be performed when there are multiple scientific studies addressing the same question, with each individual study reporting me ...

systematic review A systematic review is a Literature review, scholarly synthesis of the evidence on a clearly presented topic using critical methods to identify, define and assess research on the topic. A systematic review extracts and interprets data from publ ...

health technology assessment Health technology assessment (HTA) is a multidisciplinary process that uses systematic and explicit methods to evaluate the properties and effects of a health technology. Health technology is conceived as any intervention (test, device, medici ...

(HTA). It is one of the world's oldest HTA agencies that started conducting systematic reviews in 1987.

About

SBU is tasked with evaluating methods which are in use in healthcare and social services, including both established and new methods. The aim is to based upon current and well-executed research – evaluate what effect interventions and methods are known to have; whether there are any risks involved; whether the interventions provide benefit in relation to cost; as well as raising ethical questions. SBU's independent assessment are aimed to support all who make decisions in healthcare and social services, from policy to individual treatment. SBU is also tasked in pointing to areas where evidence is lacking and further research is necessary for evaluation. Within Swedish healthcare and social services all employees are by law required to work according to

scientific evidence Scientific evidence is evidence that serves to either support or counter a scientific theory or hypothesis, although scientists also use evidence in other ways, such as when applying theories to practical problems. "Discussions about empirical ev ...

and "''proven experience''" (a concept in Swedish law). It is not deemed possible for a single individual to follow the full body of scientific research and therefore SBU is tasked to sort, critically review and summarize results. SBU performs

systemic review A systematic review is a scholarly synthesis of the evidence on a clearly presented topic using critical methods to identify, define and assess research on the topic. A systematic review extracts and interprets data from published studies on t ...

s and assessments which include analysis of medical, economic, ethical and social aspects of various methods. SBU is a member organisation of The International Network of Agencies for Health Technology Assessment (INAHTA), and the European Network for Health Technology Assessment (EUnetHTA). SBU starting in 1987 and is one of the oldest national agencies for review of health technologies. SBU made the

Cochrane Library The Cochrane Library (named after Archie Cochrane) is a collection of databases in medicine and other healthcare specialties provided by Cochrane and other organizations. At its core is the collection of Cochrane Reviews, a database of system ...

of systematic reviews available for free in all of Sweden between 2005 and 2013.

Publications

SBU has released the book "Testing Treatments" by Imogen Evans, Hazel Thornton,

Paul Glasziou Paul Philip Glasziou (born 21 May 1954) is an Australian academic physician known for his research in evidence-based medicine. He is Professor of Evidence-Based Medicine at Bond University, where he is also Director of the Faculty of Health Sc ...

, and

Cochrane Collaboration Cochrane (previously known as the Cochrane Collaboration) is a British international charitable organisation formed to organise medical research findings to facilitate evidence-based choices about health interventions involving health profess ...

founder

Iain Chalmers Sir Iain Geoffrey Chalmers (born 3 June 1943) is a British health services researcher, one of the founders of the Cochrane Collaboration,shaken baby syndrome Shaken baby syndrome (SBS), also known as abusive head trauma (AHT), is the leading cause of fatal head injuries in children younger than two years. Diagnosing the syndrome has proved both challenging and contentious for medical professionals, ...

. The report (available in full in English) found only low to very-low quality evidence supporting any of the claims in the triad. In 2016 SBU found scant evidence of any non-radiological method of age determination. In general, SBU found the literature to indicate that variation between individuals was too large to allow age to be estimated based on physical traits (i.e. height or stage of puberty). This had implications on the legal status of unaccompanied minors seeking asylum in the EU and Sweden, causing some controversy. In 2007 SBU assessed the use of

light therapy Light therapy, also called phototherapy or bright light therapy is intentional daily exposure to direct sunlight or similar-intensity artificial light in order to treat medical disorders, especially seasonal affective disorder (SAD) and circadi ...

to combat

seasonal affective disorder Seasonal affective disorder (SAD) is a mood disorder subset, in which people who have normal mental health throughout most of the year exhibit depressive symptoms at the same time each year. Common symptoms include sleeping too much, having li ...

, finding no evidence to support the claim. This led to the shut-down of multiple light-clinics in Sweden.

References

External links

* (''in English'')
Science & Practice – popular science newsletter
(''in English'') * (''in English'') * (''in English'') * (''in Swedish'')
SBU's list of publications
(''in Swedish'')
Vetenskap & Praxis – popular science newsletter
(''in Swedish'')
Testing Treatments interactive – "Bättre behandling"
(''in Swedish'') {{authority control 1987 establishments in Sweden Government agencies of Sweden

About

Publications

See also

References

External links