Abstract
Background: Systematic reviews (SR) can be classified by type depending on the research question they are based on. This work identifies and describes the most relevant methodological resources to conduct high-quality reviews that answer health care questions regarding prevalence, prognosis, diagnostic accuracy and effects of interventions. Methods: Methodological resources have been identified from literature searches and consulting guidelines from institutions that develop SRs. The selected resources are organized by type of SR, and stage of development of the review (formulation of the research question, development of the protocol, literature search, risk of bias assessment, synthesis of findings, assessment of the quality of evidence, and report of SR results and conclusions). Results: Although the different types of SRs are developed following the same steps, each SR type requires specific methods, differing in characteristics and complexity. The extent of methodological development varies by type of SR, with more solid guidelines available for diagnostic accuracy and effects of interventions SRs. This methodological toolkit describes the most up-to-date risk of bias instruments: Quality in Prognostic Studies (QUIPS) tool andPrediction model study Risk Of Bias Assessment Tool (PROBAST) for prognostic SRs, Quality assessment of diagnostic accuracy studies tool (QUADAS-2) for diagnostic accuracy SRs, Cochrane risk of bias tool (ROB-2) and Risk of bias in non-randomised studies of interventions studies tool (ROBINS-I) for effects of interventions SRs, as well as the latest developments on the Grading of Recommendations Assessment, Development and Evaluation (GRADE) system. Conclusions: This structured compilation of the best methodological resources for each type of SR may prove to be a very useful tool for those researchers that wish to develop SRs or conduct methodological research works on SRs.
Highlights
Systematic reviews (SR) are studies that use a systematic and explicit method to identify, analyse and synthesize empirical evidence, and to answer a specific research question[1]
Classic epidemiological research questions relate to the prevalence of a medical condition, the associated prognosis of the medical condition, diagnostic accuracy of tests that allow us to diagnose the medical condition, and effects of interventions to treat the medical condition
The stages to develop an SR are common to all the types of SRs: 1) Formulating the research question, 2) development of the protocol that explicitly describes the methods to carry out each step of the SR, 3) literature search, 4) risk of bias assessment, 5) synthesis of findings, 6) assessment of the quality of evidence, and 7) report of SR results and conclusions[1]
Summary
Systematic reviews (SR) are studies that use a systematic and explicit method to identify, analyse and synthesize empirical evidence, and to answer a specific research question[1]. The stages to develop an SR are common to all the types of SRs: 1) Formulating the research question, 2) development of the protocol that explicitly describes the methods to carry out each step of the SR, 3) literature search, 4) risk of bias assessment, 5) synthesis of findings, 6) assessment of the quality of evidence, and 7) report of SR results and conclusions[1]. Methods: Methodological resources have been identified from literature searches and consulting guidelines from institutions that develop SRs. The selected resources are organized by type of SR, and stage of development of the review (formulation of the research question, development of the protocol, literature search, risk of bias assessment, synthesis of findings, assessment of the quality of evidence, and report of SR results and conclusions). Conclusions: This structured compilation of the best methodological resources for each type of SR may prove to be a very useful tool for version 3 (revision)
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