Surrogate markers may not tell the whole story

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• Format Texts
• Language/s English
• Target Audience Self-directed learning
• EBM Stage 3 - Appraising evidence
• Duration 5-15 mins
• Difficulty Intermediate

Key Concepts addressed

• 3-2a Do the outcomes measured matter to you?

Details

A surrogate marker is an event or a laboratory value that researchers hope can serve as a reliable substitute for an actual disease. A common example of this is blood cholesterol levels. These levels are surrogates, or substitutes, for heart disease. If a medical study demonstrates that a medication can lower cholesterol level 10%, then we assume that this will also lower the risk of cardiovascular disease. Why doesn’t this same study determine if an anti-cholesterol drug decreases heart attack rates directly? After all, most folks would rather be spared a heart attack than have a silent decrease in their blood cholesterol levels.

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