The Evidence Resource provides a machine-interpretable expression of an evidence concept including the evidence variables (e.g., population, exposures/interventions, comparators, outcomes, measured variables, confounding variables), the statistics, and the certainty of this evidence.

An absolute URI that is used to identify this evidence when it is referenced in a specification, model, design or an instance; also called its canonical identifier. This SHOULD be globally unique and SHOULD be a literal address at which an authoritative instance of this summary is (or will be) published. This URL can be the target of a canonical reference. It SHALL remain the same when the summary is stored on different servers.

Allows the evidence to be referenced by a single globally unique identifier.

In some cases, the resource can no longer be found at the stated url, but the url itself cannot change. Implementations can use the meta.source element to indicate where the current master source of the resource can be found.

A formal identifier that is used to identify this summary when it is represented in other formats, or referenced in a specification, model, design or an instance.

Allows externally provided and/or usable business identifiers to be easily associated with the module.

Typically, this is used for identifiers that can go in an HL7 V3 II (instance identifier) data type, and can then identify this summary outside of FHIR, where it is not possible to use the logical URI.

The identifier that is used to identify this version of the summary when it is referenced in a specification, model, design or instance. This is an arbitrary value managed by the summary author and is not expected to be globally unique. For example, it might be a timestamp (e.g. yyyymmdd) if a managed version is not available. There is also no expectation that versions can be placed in a lexicographical sequence.

The determination of when to create a new version of a resource (same url, new version) vs. defining a new artifact is up to the author. Considerations for making this decision are found in Technical and Business Versions.

Indicates the mechanism used to compare versions to determine which is more current.

If set as a string, this is a FHIRPath expression that has two additional context variables passed in - %version1 and %version2 and will return a negative number if version1 is newer, a positive number if version2 is newer, and a 0 if the version ordering can't successfully be determined.

A natural language name identifying the evidence. This name should be usable as an identifier for the module by machine processing applications such as code generation.

The name is not expected to be globally unique. The name should be a simple alphanumeric type name to ensure that it is machine-processing friendly.

A short, descriptive, user-friendly title for the summary.

Citation Resource or display of suggested citation for this evidence.

The status of this summary. Enables tracking the life-cycle of the content.

Allows filtering of summarys s that are appropriate for use versus not.

See guidance around (not) making local changes to elements here.

A Boolean value to indicate that this resource is authored for testing purposes (or education/evaluation/marketing) and is not intended to be used for genuine usage.

The date (and optionally time) when the summary was last significantly changed. The date must change when the business version changes and it must change if the status code changes. In addition, it should change when the substantive content of the summary changes.

The date is often not tracked until the resource is published, but may be present on draft content. Note that this is not the same as the resource last-modified-date, since the resource may be a secondary representation of the summary. Additional specific dates may be added as extensions or be found by consulting Provenances associated with past versions of the resource.

See guidance around (not) making local changes to elements here.

The date on which the resource content was approved by the publisher. Approval happens once when the content is officially approved for usage.

The 'date' element may be more recent than the approval date because of minor changes or editorial corrections.

See guidance around (not) making local changes to elements here.

The date on which the resource content was last reviewed. Review happens periodically after approval but does not change the original approval date.

Gives a sense of how "current" the content is. Resources that have not been reviewed in a long time may have a risk of being less appropriate/relevant.

If specified, this date follows the original approval date.

See guidance around (not) making local changes to elements here.

The name of the organization or individual responsible for the release and ongoing maintenance of the evidence.

Helps establish the "authority/credibility" of the evidence. May also allow for contact.

Usually an organization but may be an individual. The publisher (or steward) of the evidence is the organization or individual primarily responsible for the maintenance and upkeep of the evidence. This is not necessarily the same individual or organization that developed and initially authored the content. The publisher is the primary point of contact for questions or issues with the evidence. This item SHOULD be populated unless the information is available from context.

Contact details to assist a user in finding and communicating with the publisher.

Extensions to ContactDetail include: contactReference, contactAddress, and contributionTime (see Clinical Reasoning Module).

See guidance around (not) making local changes to elements here.

An individiual, organization, or device primarily involved in the creation and maintenance of the content.

Extensions to ContactDetail include: contactReference, contactAddress, and contributionTime (see Clinical Reasoning Module).

An individiual, organization, or device primarily responsible for internal coherence of the content.

Extensions to ContactDetail include: contactReference, contactAddress, and contributionTime (see Clinical Reasoning Module).

An individiual, organization, or device primarily responsible for review of some aspect of the content.

Extensions to ContactDetail include: contactReference, contactAddress, and contributionTime (see Clinical Reasoning Module).

See guidance around (not) making local changes to elements here.

An individiual, organization, or device responsible for officially endorsing the content for use in some setting.

Extensions to ContactDetail include: contactReference, contactAddress, and contributionTime (see Clinical Reasoning Module).

See guidance around (not) making local changes to elements here.

The content was developed with a focus and intent of supporting the contexts that are listed. These contexts may be general categories (gender, age, ...) or may be references to specific programs (insurance plans, studies, ...) and may be used to assist with indexing and searching for appropriate evidence instances.

Assist in searching for appropriate content.

When multiple useContexts are specified, there is no expectation that all or any of the contexts apply.

Explanation of why this Evidence is needed and why it has been designed as it has.

This element does not describe the usage of the Evidence. Instead, it provides traceability of ''why'' the resource is either needed or ''why'' it is defined as it is. This may be used to point to source materials or specifications that drove the structure of this Evidence.

A copyright statement relating to the Evidence and/or its contents. Copyright statements are generally legal restrictions on the use and publishing of the Evidence.

Consumers must be able to determine any legal restrictions on the use of the Evidence and/or its content.

The short copyright declaration (e.g. (c) '2015+ xyz organization' should be sent in the copyrightLabel element.

A short string (<50 characters), suitable for inclusion in a page footer that identifies the copyright holder, effective period, and optionally whether rights are resctricted. (e.g. 'All rights reserved', 'Some rights reserved').

Defines the content expected to be rendered in all representations of the artifact.

The (c) symbol should NOT be included in this string. It will be added by software when rendering the notation. Full details about licensing, restrictions, warrantees, etc. goes in the more general 'copyright' element.

Link or citation to artifact associated with the summary.

A free text natural language description of the evidence from a consumer's perspective.

This description can be used to capture details such as comments about misuse, instructions for clinical use and interpretation, literature references, examples from the paper world, etc. It is not a rendering of the evidence as conveyed in the 'text' field of the resource itself. This item SHOULD be populated unless the information is available from context (e.g. the language of the evidence is presumed to be the predominant language in the place the evidence was created).

Declarative description of the Evidence.

Footnotes and/or explanatory notes.

Evidence variable such as population, exposure, or outcome.

A text description or summary of the variable.

Footnotes and/or explanatory notes.

Classification of the role of the variable.

Sub-classification of the role of the variable.

The reference value used for comparison.

Value should match EvidenceVariable.category.name in the EvidenceVariable referenced in the observed or intended element.

Definition of the actual variable related to the statistic(s).

Definition of the intended variable related to the Evidence.

Indication of quality of match between intended variable to actual variable.

The method to combine studies.

The design of the study that produced this evidence. The design is described with any number of study design characteristics.

Values and parameters for a single statistic.

A description of the content value of the statistic.

Footnotes and/or explanatory notes.

Type of statistic, e.g., relative risk.

When the measured variable is handled categorically, the category element is used to define which category the statistic is reporting.

Simple strings can be used for descriptive purposes. Exact matching to EvidenceVariable.category.name for the Evidence.variableDefinition[variableRole=measuredVariable].observed=Reference(EvidenceVariable) could facilitate validation within datasets.

Statistic value.

The number of events associated with the statistic, where the unit of analysis is different from numberAffected, sampleSize.knownDataCount and sampleSize.numberOfParticipants.

When the number of events is the statistic, use Evidence.statistic.quantity and set Evidence.statistic.type.coding.code=C25463 and Evidence.statistic.type.coding.display=Count. When the statistic is an Event Rate (where individual participants may have 2 or more events), use Evidence.statistic.numberOfEvents to record the total number of events rather than the number of participants with events.

The number of participants affected where the unit of analysis is the same as sampleSize.knownDataCount and sampleSize.numberOfParticipants.

When the number affected is the statistic, use Evidence.statistic.quantity and set Evidence.statistic.type.coding.code=C25463 and Evidence.statistic.type.coding.display=Count. When the statistic is a Proportion, use Evidence.statistic.numberAffected and enter an integer as the value. When the statistic is an Event Rate (where individual participants may have 2 or more events), use Evidence.statistic.numberAffected to record the number of participants with events rather than the total number of events.

Number of samples in the statistic.

Human-readable summary of population sample size.

Footnote or explanatory note about the sample size.

Number of participants in the population.

A human-readable string to clarify or explain concepts about the sample size.

Number of participants with known results for measured variables.

A statistical attribute of the statistic such as a measure of heterogeneity.

Human-readable summary of the estimate.

Footnote or explanatory note about the estimate.

The type of attribute estimate, e.g., confidence interval or p value.

The singular quantity of the attribute estimate, for attribute estimates represented as single values; also used to report unit of measure.

Often the p value

Use 95 for a 95% confidence interval.

Lower bound of confidence interval.

A nested attribute estimate; which is the attribute estimate of an attribute estimate.

A nested attribute estimate; which is the attribute estimate of an attribute estimate

A component of the method to generate the statistic.

When this characteristic is used.

Description of a component of the method to generate the statistic.

Further specification of the value of the component of the method to generate the statistic.

The plan for analysis.

The analysis that was applied.

A variable adjusted for in the adjusted analysis.

Description of the variable.

How the variable is classified for use in adjusted analysis.

Description for grouping of ordinal or polychotomous variables.

Discrete value for grouping of ordinal or polychotomous variables.

Range of values for grouping of ordinal or polychotomous variables.

An attribute of the statistic used as a model characteristic.

Model component.

A nested model characteristic

Assessment of certainty, confidence in the estimates, or quality of the evidence.

Textual description of certainty.

Footnotes and/or explanatory notes.

Aspect of certainty being rated.

Assessment or judgement of the aspect.

Individual or group who did the rating.

A domain or subdomain of certainty.