![Starting from the top, or point, of the pyramid to the base, the pyramid is broken into 7 sections stacked on top of each other. The quality of information is highest at the top of the pyramid, and decreases as you move down to the base. The top 3 sections are Filtered Information: Section 1: systematic reviews Section 2: critically-appraised topics [Evidence syntheses] Section 3: critically-appraised individual articles [Article synopsis] The fourth through sixth sections are Unfiltered Information: Section 4: randomized controlled trials (RCTs) Section 5: cohort studies Section 6: case-controlled studies, case series/reports The base of the pyramid consists of Background information and expert opinion.](https://libapps-ca.s3.amazonaws.com/accounts/2380/images/Evidence_Based_Pyramid.jpg)
EBM Pyramid and EBM Page Generator, copyright 2006 Trustees of Dartmouth College and Yale University. All Rights Reserved.
Produced by Jan Glover, David Izzo, Karen Odato and Lei Wang.
The levels of evidence pyramid provides a way to visualize both the quality of evidence and the amount of evidence available. For example, systematic reviews are at the top of the pyramid, meaning they are both the highest level of evidence and the least common. As you go down the pyramid, the amount of evidence will increase as the quality of the evidence decreases.