External validity in evidence-based medicine addresses how well study findings can be generalized to other populations, settings, and times.

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External validity is about whether study results can be applied beyond the exact people, places, and times studied. It asks if what was found would hold true for different patient groups, in different clinic settings, or at later dates. The statement that best captures this idea is the one describing generalizability to other populations, settings, and times, since that directly defines how widely the findings can be applied.

Inside the study, the accuracy of measurements within the sample relates to how reliably variables were measured, which concerns internal validity rather than external validity. Cost-effectiveness focuses on value and economic impact, not generalizability. The mechanism of action explains how the intervention works biologically, not whether the results apply to other contexts.