Abstract
BackgroundThe Cochrane Neonatal Review Group (CNRG) has achieved a lot with limited resources in producing high quality systematic reviews to assist clinicians in evidence-based decision-making. A formal assessment of published CNRG systematic reviews has not been undertaken; we sought to provide a comprehensive assessment of the quality of systematic reviews (both methodologic and reporting quality) published in CNRG.MethodsWe selected a random sample of published CNRG systematic reviews. Items of the QUOROM statement were utilized to assess quality of reporting, while items and total scores of the Oxman-Guyatt Overview Quality Assessment Questionnaire (OQAQ) were used to assess methodologic quality. Two reviewers independently extracted data and assessed quality. A Student t-test was used to compare quality scores pre- and post-publication of the QUOROM statement.ResultsSixty-one systematic reviews were assessed. Overall, the included reviews had good quality with minor flaws based on OQAQ total scores (mean, 4.5 [0.9]; 95% CI, 4.27–4.77). However, room for improvement was noted in some areas, such as the title, abstract reporting, a priori plan for heterogeneity assessment and how to handle heterogeneity in case it exists, and assessment of publication bias. In addition, reporting of agreement among reviewers, documentation of trials flow, and discussion of possible biases were addressed in the review process. Reviews published post the QUOROM statement had a significantly higher quality scores.ConclusionThe systematic reviews published in the CNRG are generally of good quality with minor flaws. However, efforts should be made to improve the quality of reports. Readers must continue to assess the quality of published reports on an individual basis prior to implementing the recommendations.
Highlights
The Cochrane Neonatal Review Group (CNRG) has achieved a lot with limited resources in producing high quality systematic reviews to assist clinicians in evidence-based decision-making
The Cochrane Neonatal Review Group (CNRG), dedicated to improving outcomes of newborn infants, is one of the 51 collaborative groups registered with the Cochrane Collaboration (CC), and has achieved a considerable amount with limited resources in synthesizing and providing the highest quality of evidence to neonatal health care providers [7]
Stratification based on relation to the Quality of Reporting of Meta-analysis statement (QUOROM) statement publication date was entertained to assess any potential effect of the QUOROM statement on overall quality of included reviews; we found that most reviews published prior to the QUOROM statement publication were updated at a later stage
Summary
The Cochrane Neonatal Review Group (CNRG) has achieved a lot with limited resources in producing high quality systematic reviews to assist clinicians in evidence-based decision-making. The Cochrane Neonatal Review Group (CNRG), dedicated to improving outcomes of newborn infants, is one of the 51 collaborative groups registered with the CC, and has achieved a considerable amount with limited resources in synthesizing and providing the highest quality of evidence to neonatal health care providers [7]. Members of the CNRG prepare reviews of the results of RCT's of intervention for treatment and prevention of disease in newborn infants [8] In preparing their reviews, reviewers follow systematic methods summarized in the Cochrane Reviewer's Handbook and summarized in a checklist developed for the neonatal reviews by the editors of the group[9]. The number of reviews has steadily increased over the last few years with more than 200 completed reviews currently published
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