This is a good summary by Amsoil of a SAE paper (PDF link) on how engine wear correlates with oil-filter efficiency.
Engine wear is especially affected by oil-filter efficiency in diesel engines but the effect is also strong in gasoline engines. The long story short, it's very important to have a high-efficiency oil filter if you want to keep the engine wear as little as possible. Since the engine wear is caused by particles ranging in size mostly from 2 to 25 microns, removing such particles necessitates a premium synthetic or synthetic-blend oil filter with a high-efficiency micron rating.
See the table and graph for the efficiency ratings of the oil filters and the two charts for the engine-wear rates. Note that higher-efficiency oil filters were used for the diesel engine.
Engine wear is especially affected by oil-filter efficiency in diesel engines but the effect is also strong in gasoline engines. The long story short, it's very important to have a high-efficiency oil filter if you want to keep the engine wear as little as possible. Since the engine wear is caused by particles ranging in size mostly from 2 to 25 microns, removing such particles necessitates a premium synthetic or synthetic-blend oil filter with a high-efficiency micron rating.
See the table and graph for the efficiency ratings of the oil filters and the two charts for the engine-wear rates. Note that higher-efficiency oil filters were used for the diesel engine.