Abstract
BackgroundThere has been a growing emphasis on evidence-informed decision-making in health care. Systematic reviews, such as those produced by the Cochrane Collaboration, have been a key component of this movement. The UK National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) Systematic Review Programme currently supports 20 Cochrane Review Groups (CRGs). The aim of this study was to identify the impacts of Cochrane reviews published by NIHR-funded CRGs during the years 2007–2011.MethodsWe sent questionnaires to CRGs and review authors, interviewed guideline developers and used bibliometrics and documentary review to get an overview of CRG impact and to evaluate the impact of a sample of 60 Cochrane reviews. We used a framework with four categories (knowledge production, research targeting, informing policy development and impact on practice/services).ResultsA total of 1,502 new and updated reviews were produced by the 20 NIHR-funded CRGs between 2007 and 2011. The clearest impacts were on policy with a total of 483 systematic reviews cited in 247 sets of guidance: 62 were international, 175 national (87 from the UK) and 10 local. Review authors and CRGs provided some examples of impact on practice or services, for example, safer use of medication, the identification of new effective drugs or treatments and potential economic benefits through the reduction in the use of unproven or unnecessary procedures. However, such impacts are difficult to objectively document, and the majority of reviewers were unsure if their review had produced specific impacts. Qualitative data suggested that Cochrane reviews often play an instrumental role in informing guidance, although a poor fit with guideline scope or methods, reviews being out of date and a lack of communication between CRGs and guideline developers were barriers to their use.ConclusionsHealth and economic impacts of research are generally difficult to measure. We found that to be the case with this evaluation. Impacts on knowledge production and clinical guidance were easier to identify and substantiate than those on clinical practice. Questions remain about how we define and measure impact, and more work is needed to develop suitable methods for impact analysis.
Highlights
There has been a growing emphasis on evidence-informed decision-making in health care
A total of 3,187 new and updated reviews were published on the Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews between 2007 and 2011, 1,502 (47%) of which were produced by the 20 Cochrane Review Groups (CRGs) funded by the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR)
There was some variation in the number of author questionnaires returned for each CRG with all three questionnaires returned for some groups and none for others
Summary
There has been a growing emphasis on evidence-informed decision-making in health care. Systematic reviews, such as those produced by the Cochrane Collaboration, have been a key component of this movement. There has been growing interest in the way in which research is used, with researchers increasingly expected to consider the wider impacts of their work [5]. This may include the contributions research makes to health, society, culture, the economy, quality of life and public policy. It has long been recognised that research may not always have the impact that researchers desire [8,9]
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