RT Journal Article SR Electronic T1 Can evidence-based medicine implicitly rely on current concepts of disease or does it have to develop its own definition? JF Journal of Medical Ethics JO J Med Ethics FD BMJ Publishing Group Ltd and Institute of Medical Ethics SP 394 OP 399 DO 10.1136/jme.2006.017913 VO 33 IS 7 A1 Gerber, Andreas A1 Hentzelt, Frieder A1 Lauterbach, Karl W YR 2007 UL http://jme.bmj.com/content/33/7/394.abstract AB Decisions in healthcare are made against the background of cultural and philosophical definitions of disease, sickness and illness. These concepts or definitions affect both health policy (macro level) and research (meso level), as well as individual encounters between patients and physicians (micro level). It is therefore necessary for evidence-based medicine to consider whether any of the definitions underlying research prior to the hierarchisation of knowledge are indeed compatible with its own epistemological principles.