Article review, Overview

Article review: Reviews: Rapid! Rapid! Rapid! …and systematic

Reviews: Rapid! Rapid! Rapid! …and systematic. Schünemann HJ et al. Systematic Reviews 2015, 4:4 This editorial introduced the series Advances in Rapid Reviews in the journal Systematic Reviews.  It gives a nice introduction to the challenges facing systematic reviewers who want to undertake reviews more rapidly.  The authors highlight the importance of using strategies to reduce bias and random error and the need for transparency. Transparency … Continue reading Article review: Reviews: Rapid! Rapid! Rapid! …and systematic

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Commentary, Overview

Why do we do systematic reviews?

This might seem a really obvious question but it’s one I really struggle with.  So, this post is a request for help! Note: the post relates to systematic reviews of individual interventions as opposed to the broader outcome-focussed systematic reviews (e.g. what’s effective in helping people quit smoking?) I get the impression that people embark on systematic reviews with little thought to the reasons behind the review; … Continue reading Why do we do systematic reviews?

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Commentary

Small trials in evidence synthesis

Bottom line: The inclusion of small studies introduces a whole host of problems with little obvious gain.  So, don’t waste time/money in trying to locate them all.  In most cases less can be more! A recent post in the Lancet [1] caused some controversy by suggesting that systematic reviews can sometimes increase waste by promoting underpowered trials. The authors report: “Efforts by Cochrane and others to locate all … Continue reading Small trials in evidence synthesis

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List of articles

List of articles: exploring trial variables and effect on meta-analysis

I’m increasingly drawn to the concept of what is ‘correct’ in relation to systematic reviews and meta-analyses.  If we’re wanting to demonstrate the worth of a ‘rapid’ reviews we need to compare it to a ‘gold standard’ ‘correct’ answer.  There does not appear to be such a thing. I’m particularly drawn to the 2014 Deschartres paper that: “…compare treatment outcomes estimated by meta-analysis of all … Continue reading List of articles: exploring trial variables and effect on meta-analysis

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Article review

Article review: How important are comprehensive literature searches and the assessment of trial quality in systematic reviews?

How important are comprehensive literature searches and the assessment of trial quality in systematic reviews? Egger M et al. Health Technol Assess. 2003;7(1):1-76. Over ten years old but still a really important paper.  They report a number of important findings, that could form part of a list of heuristics, for instance: The importance of trials that are difficult to find vary by speciality. Unpublished trials … Continue reading Article review: How important are comprehensive literature searches and the assessment of trial quality in systematic reviews?

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Article review, Website

Trip Rapid Review System

Systematic reviews in five minutes?  That’s the suggestion from Trip with their Trip Rapid Review System (TRRS) Conflict of Interest: I run Trip and designed the TRRS and wrote the posts I’ll link to below! The system is designed to replicate the results of a systematic review but using a number of shortcuts.  It doesn’t rely on a full search, it doesn’t critically appraise the articles.  … Continue reading Trip Rapid Review System

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Autosynthesis, Website

Website of interest: Systematic Review (SR) Toolbox

While aimed at systematic reviews this site has many tools designed to speed up (or is the word ‘expedite’ better?) the systematic review process! Systematic Review (SR) Toolbox is a searchable online catalogue of tools arranging the collection via this structure: Protocol Development Automated Search Study Selection Quality Assessment Data Extraction Automated Analysis Text Analysis Meta-Analysis Report Write-Up Collaboration Document Management The site includes a … Continue reading Website of interest: Systematic Review (SR) Toolbox

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Autosynthesis

RobotReviewer: auto-assessment of bias in clinical trials

Where to start with this marvel?  Perhaps, the RobotReviewer website that allows you free access to upload PDFs of clinical trials and have them automatically assessed for bias.  Alternatively, there is the recent peer-reviewed journal article RobotReviewer: evaluation of a system for automatically assessing bias in clinical trials.  Or even the various tweets that have been tweeted by a multitude of people. But what is RobotReviewer? The aims … Continue reading RobotReviewer: auto-assessment of bias in clinical trials

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Article review

Article review: Rapid Review Summit: an overview and initiation of a research agenda

Rapid Review Summit: an overview and initiation of a research agenda. Polisena J et al. Systematic Reviews 2015, 4:137 This paper is based on the discussions held by over 150 people involved in the rapid review process at a forum convened by the Canadian Agency for Drugs and Technologies in Health (CADTH). The paper focuses on the initial development of a research agenda, which falls … Continue reading Article review: Rapid Review Summit: an overview and initiation of a research agenda

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