This book aims to provide an evidence-based resource for gastroenterologists and hepatologists. The editors have assembled an impressive array of contributors, many of whom are leading authorities in the field. It does not set out to replace traditional textbooks but rather to present up-to-date summaries of the evidence in key areas of clinical practice. The book assumes that clinicians are too busy to access primary or secondary evidence for themselves.

The chapters are heavily referenced, but no indication is provided of how the evidence was retrieved or selected. An outline of how to critically appraise articles about treatment and diagnosis is provided, adapting the “Users' Guides to the Medical Literature” series of articles published in JAMA. However, no explicit statement indicates that contributing authors were required to use this common set of criteria. …