Outcomes research in gastroenterology and endoscopy

Table 1 Differences in focus between outcomes research and traditional clinical research

	Outcomes research	Traditional clinical research
Focus	Observational	Experimental
Example	Retrospective analysis assessing the factors associated with mortality in patients with severe acute pancreatitis	Randomized placebo-controlled trial of drug X administered to patients presenting with severe acute pancreatitis
Focus	Patient-centered	Disease-centered
Example	Long-term outcomes in patients with dysplastic Barrett’s esophagus treated with radiofrequency ablation	Detection of subsquamous intestinal metaplasia (“buried Barretts”) on repeat surveillance esophageal biopsies
Focus	Socioeconomic factors	Physiological factors
Example	Survey study assessing the impact on quality of life in teenaged patients diagnosed with ulcerative colitis (UC)	Retrospective analysis on post-operative complications in patients with UC undergoing total proctocolectomy