Ahpra Guidelines for Advertising a Regulated Health Service (December 2020) adv-evidence: Hold acceptable evidence for every effectiveness claim

An advertiser must be able to substantiate claims about the effectiveness of a service with acceptable evidence, which is mostly empirical data from peer-reviewed studies and, at best, a well-conducted systematic review of randomised trials that is not selectively cited. Studies without human subjects, before-and-after studies with few controls, self-assessments, practice anecdotes, uncontrolled outcome audits and studies not applicable to the target population generally fall short. A claim without such evidence is not permitted, and the evidence behind advertising is distinct from the evidence used for clinical decisions.