4,952,678 papers found

BACKGROUND: A systematic review aims to combine outcome data from published studies in a population. It is based on a number of steps and although there are numerous advantages in systematic review studies, dentists have been finding difficulties in performing them. OBJECTIVE: Taking into account the misconceptions an…

BACKGROUND: Producing high-quality, relevant systematic reviews and keeping them up to date is challenging. Cochrane is a leading provider of systematic reviews in health. For Cochrane to continue to contribute to improvements in heath, Cochrane Reviews must be rigorous, reliable and up to date. We aimed to explore exi…

BACKGROUND: The Cochrane Collaboration records risk of bias (ROB) judgements on the original studies it analyses. The aim of this review is to perform an audit of all literature produced by the Cochrane Colorectal Cancer Group (CCCG), focusing on whether intervention type has any relationship with ROB and the ability o…

Scoping reviews are similar to systematic reviews in that they are designed to be transparent and reproducible processes to answer a question while reducing bias. The key difference between scoping reviews and the better-known systematic review method is the scope of the question being answered. Scoping reviews are bes…

This is the fifth in a series of six articles describing systematic reviews in animal agriculture and veterinary medicine. The previous articles in this series overviewed the development of a review protocol and the initial steps in conducting a systematic review: identification of a structured question to be answered…

OBJECTIVES: We assessed the evidence from reviews and meta-analyses of randomised clinical trials on the effects of pharmacological prevention and management of delirium in intensive care unit (ICU) patients. METHODS: We searched for reviews in July 2017 in: Cochrane Library, MEDLINE, Embase, Science Citation Index, B…

Childhood obesity has a complex multi-factorial aetiology grounded in environmental and individual level factors that affect behaviour and outcomes. An ecological, systems-based approach to addressing childhood obesity is increasingly being advocated. The primary aim of this review is to summarize the evidence reported…

Systematic reviews assist nurses, other health care providers, decision makers, and consumers in managing the explosion of health care information by synthesizing valid data and reporting the effects of interventions. Nurses are increasingly using systematic reviews to guide their practice and develop policy. The purpo…

BACKGROUND: Despite a growing portfolio of rehabilitation reviews, uptake of review findings into practice remains slow, with review findings perceived to be lacking in relevance and usability for stakeholders. Key aspects of review design, production and dissemination have been identified to contribute to this knowled…

OBJECTIVE: Systematic reviews of prognostic factors for low back pain vary substantially in design and conduct. The objective of this study was to identify, describe, and synthesize systematic reviews of low back pain prognosis, and explore the potential impact of review methods on the conclusions. STUDY DESIGN AND SE…

BACKGROUND: Methods for systematic reviews of the effects of health interventions have focused mainly on addressing the question of 'What works?' or 'Is this intervention effective in achieving one or more specific outcomes?' Addressing the question 'Is it worth it given the resources available?' has received less atte…

OBJECTIVES: Searching multiple sources when conducting systematic reviews is considered good practice. We aimed to investigate the impact of using sources beyond PubMed in systematic reviews of therapeutic interventions. STUDY DESIGN AND SETTING: We randomly selected 50 Cochrane reviews that searched the PubMed (or ME…

Systematic reviews and meta-analyses are powerful tools for summarizing existing literature and combining evidence from multiple studies. These methods employ complex searches, statistical techniques, and presentation techniques with which the clinical audience may not be very familiar. This review article aims to fami…

BACKGROUND: This review aims to rate the quality of evidence and the strength of recommendations in high-quality systematic reviews of non-drug therapies. Hypertensive patients who are resistant or non-adherent to antihypertensive drugs may be easier to manage if they choose alternative non-drug therapies for hypertens…

This chapter describes the basic steps in a systematic review to evaluate test accuracy, and the threats to validity of reviews inherent in each step. First, the problems to be addressed are specified in the form of well-structured questions (Step 1). This is a key step, as all other aspects of the review follow direct…

Conscientious integration of the best available evidence in the care of an individual patient could be challenging for a busy clinician. A well-conducted systematic review can adequately inform not only the clinicians, but also the policy makers and researchers about the benefits and risks of a particular intervention.…

The Health Belief Model provides a framework to understand motivators for volunteering for medical research. Motivators can take the form of social and personal benefits. In this systematic review of review articles, we contrast motivators of participation in actual cancer trials to those in actual HIV vaccine trials.…

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVE: To review current practice in the assessment of the quality of original observational studies included in systematic reviews. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Examination of all systematic reviews identified by a basic PubMed search for the years 1999-2000 (32 reviews) and 2003-2004 (98 reviews). Engli…

PURPOSE: To assess the extent to which relevant controlled clinical trials are cited and summarized in review articles, and to determine whether citation of relevant clinical trails is biased as to study results. DATA SOURCES: Articles were identified by searching MEDLINE and EMBASE databases. STUDY SELECTION: Review…