“Evidence based medicine” (EBM) is often seen as a scientific tool for quality improvement, even though its application requires the combination of scientific facts with value judgments and the costing of different treatments. How this is done depends on whether we approach the problem from the perspective of individual patients, doctors, or public health administrators. Evidence based medicine exerts a fundamental influence on certain key aspects of medical professionalism. Since, when clinical practice guidelines are created, costs affect the content of EBM, EBM inevitably becomes a form of rationing and adopts a public health point of view. This challenges traditional professionalism in much the same way as managed care has done in the US. Here we chart some of these major philosophical issues and show why simple solutions cannot be found. The profession needs to pay more attention to different uses of EBM in order to preserve the good aspects of professionalism.

Summary Cholesterol absorption and metabolism and LDL and HDL kinetics were investigated in 11 hypercholesterolaemic non-insulin-dependent diabetic men off and on a hypolipidaemic treatment with sitostanol ester, (3 g sitostanol daily) dissolved in rapeseed oil margarine, by a double-blind crossover study design. Serum total, VLDL and LDL cholesterol and apoprotein B fell significantly by 6 + 2,12 + 6, 9 + 3 and 6 + 2 %, mean + SEM, and HDL cholesterol was increased by 11 + 4 % (p < 0.05) by sitostanol ester. LDL cholesterol and apoprotein B were significantly decreased in the dense (1.037-1.055 g/ml), but not light, LDL subfraction due to a significantly diminished transport rate for LDL apoprotein B, while the fractional catabolic rate was unchanged. HDL kinetics, measured with autologous apoprotein A I, was unaffected by sitostanol ester. Cholesterol absorption efficiency was markedly reduced from 25 + 2 to 9 + 2 % (p < 0.001) during sitostanol ester followed by proportionately decreased serum plant sterol proportions. Cholesterol precursor sterol proportions in serum, fecal neutral sterol excretion, and cholesterol synthesis, cholesterol transport, and biliary secretion were all significantly increased by sitostanol ester. We conclude that the sitostanol ester-induced decrease in cholesterol absorption compensatorily stimulated cholesterol synthesis, had no effect on fractional catabolic rate, but decreased transport rate for LDL apoprotein B so that serum total, VLDL and LDL cholesterol levels were decreased. Dietary rapeseed oil margarine rich in sitostanol ester was well tolerated, appears to be safe from the nutritional point of view and effective for lowering VLDL and LDL cholesterol and increasing HDL cholesterol in hypercholesterolaemic non-insulin-dependent diabetic subjects. [Diabetologia (1994) 37: 773-780]

Cholesterol absorption, elimination, and synthesis, and low-density lipoprotein (LDL) and high density lipoprotein (HDL) kinetics were studied in patients with mild to severe primary biliary cirrhosis (PBC) (n = 16) to show how this cholestatic disease modified cholesterol and lipoprotein metabolism as compared with healthy controls (n = 50). Serum total and lipoprotein cholesterol and triglyceride levels were similar in the two groups, but in PBC, especially in severe forms, very low density lipoprotein (VLDL) was rich in apoprotein (apo) B and cholesterol and low in triglycerides, whereas LDL was rich in triglycerides and low in esterified cholesterol, and HDL was enriched by surface lipids, phospholipids, and free cholesterol. In severe PBC, the fractional catabolic rate (FCR) for LDL apo B was reduced. The transport rate (TR) for LDL apo B was unaffected and it tended to correlate with the LDL apo B and LDL cholesterol levels in PBC, whereas in the controls the LDL apo B concentration was regulated by both the FCR and TR, and LDL cholesterol was regulated only by FCR. FCR for apo A-I in HDL was unaltered in PBC, but TR for apo A-I was reduced in the severe cases. Cholesterol absorption efficiency was significantly reduced in PBC (14.5 +/- 3.0% in severe PBC and 34.0 +/- 2.5% in mild PBC vs. 47.4 +/- 1.4% in the controls, respectively).(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

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