Usefulness of Cochrane Skin Group Reviews for Clinical Practice

Abstract

Background and objectiveSystematic reviews are one of the most important sources of information for evidence-based medicine. However, there is a general impression that these reviews rarely report results that provide sufficient evidence to change clinical practice.The aim of this study was to determine the percentage of Cochrane Skin Group reviews reporting results with the potential to guide clinical decision-making. Material and methodsWe performed a bibliometric analysis of all the systematic reviews published by the Cochrane Skin Group up to 16 August, 2012. We retrieved 55 reviews, which were analyzed and graded independently by 2 investigators into 3 categories: 0 (insufficient evidence to support or reject the use of an intervention), 1 (insufficient evidence to support or reject the use of an intervention but sufficient evidence to support recommendations or suggestions), and 2 (sufficient evidence to support or reject the use of an intervention). ResultsOur analysis showed that 25.5% (14/55) of the studies did not provide sufficient evidence to support or reject the use of the interventions studied, 45.5% (25/25) provided sufficient but not strong evidence to support recommendations or suggestions, and 29.1% (16/55) provided strong evidence to support or reject the use of 1 or more of the interventions studied. ConclusionsMost of the systematic reviews published by the Cochrane Skin Group provide useful information to improve clinical practice. Clinicians should read these reviews and reconsider their current practice.