Abstract
Background : Systematic reviews (SRs) are important synthesis mechanisms for aiding the epidemiology background in decision-making process. Since 2004, the Brazilian Ministry of Health (MoH) have been used the international reviews for compiling health technology assessment (HTA) reports and rapid reviews. SRs provide information of greater consistency for decision-making relating to the healthcare system, since they increase the magnitude and precision of the results evaluated. Objective: To describe the use of SRs as information into HTA reports and to analyze use of SRs for support the MoH’s decisions. Methods: This was a retrospective descriptive study conducted by reviewing the MoH’s documents and official registers and by using personal experience. Results: Between 2004 and 2011, the MoH requested 65SRs. Of these, 27 (41.5%) were sent to the MoH’s permanent consultative committees as support material. Eight were used as information in making decisions, and seven were cited in eight HTA reports of the MoH. Considering all the systematic reviews (Cochrane Library/Plus and Brazilian Cochrane), it was observed that there were 83HTA reports with citations in total among 262 reports produced between 2006 and 2011. Conclusion and implications for practice and research: SRs are sources of information for decision-making and for compiling HTA reports for the MoH. The implication of this study for practice was that a standardized method for registering SRs was developed. The implications for new research consisted of identifying barriers against and factors favoring the use of SRs, along with measuring the economic impact of systematic reviews on efficiency in the healthcare system.
Highlights
The rapid growth of health technologies and the range of therapeutic options have given rise to a need for decisions on healthcare service coverage
In relation to marker A, i.e. bibliographic citations of Systematic reviews (SRs) included in the composition of health technology assessment (HTA) reports (Table 1), a total of 83 reports with citations of all SRs were observed in 262 reports, corresponding to 31% (83/262) of the reports produced between 2006 and 2011
Because of the introduction of anti-neoangiogenic drugs, it concluded that verteporfin should not be incorporated
Summary
The rapid growth of health technologies and the range of therapeutic options have given rise to a need for decisions on healthcare service coverage. Systematic reviews (SRs) form the first step in health technology assessment and coverage decision processes [1]. They are used to achieve better understanding of a topic or problem; to define priorities for assessments and new research; to support decisions relating to reimbursement for medications; to form the basis for economic assessment models; and to reduce the barriers against translation of knowledge [1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10]. SRs provide information of greater consistency for decision-making relating to the healthcare system, since they increase the magnitude and precision of the results evaluated
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