Efficacy

Efficacy is defined as the extent to which a specific health intervention does more good than harm to patients who are diagnosed correctly and appropriately cared for and who fully comply with the recommendations or treatment. In brief, it asks the question, Can it work? The evaluation of efficacy assumes optimal diagnostic accuracy, heath provider compliance, and patient compliance. When estimating the benefit of interventions applied in a community setting, efficacy acts as the 'anchor point' and it quantifies the maximum benefit that can be achieved. Efficacy is regarded to be more stable and less liable to fluctuation in different circumstances than the other four factors of community effectiveness.

To assess the efficacy of therapeutic or preventive health interventions from studies, methodological standards are needed. These standards include seven guidelines and are summarized in Table 1.

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