Conducting and Reporting a Review Flashcards
The suggested format for a research question is:
To assess the effects of [intervention or comparison] for [health problem] in [participants, health problem, setting] as applicable.
Make a research question from the following:
Patients with locally advanced pancreatic cancer have traditionally been treated by palliative treatments. Recently, aggressive surgical resection has been suggested as an alternative treatment. However, this has to be researched further.
“Assess the effects of surgical resection versus palliative treatments in patients with locally advanced pancreatic cancer”
Intervention = surgical resection
Control = palliative treatment
Participants = patients
Health problem = locally advanced pancreatic cancer
True or False: There can be only one research question answered in a systematic review.
False: There can be one or more secondary research questions that can be answered from the same research.
In writing a research question with the use of PICO, what does it stand for?
Population
Intervention
Control
Outcomes
In the following research question, describe each PICO part.
Assess the effects of surgical resection versus palliative treatments in patients with locally advanced pancreatic cancer.
- Participant: patients with locally advanced pancreatic cancer
- Intervention: surgical resection
- Control: palliative treatment
- Outcomes: overall survival, treatment-related morbidity, quality of life, costs
True of False:
Systematic reviews are only restricted to randomized control trials.
False: systematic reviews can opt for cohort and case-controlled studies.
Define a parallel trial.
A trial where each participant is randomly allocated to an intervention or a control group.
Define a cross-over trial.
A trial where all the participants receive both treatments (intervention and control) in sequence with a ‘washout’ period between the two treatments in order to allow the effect of one treatment to stop. The order of giving the treatments are randomized.
Define a cluster randomized trial.
A trial where a group of patients is randomly allocated to an intervention or control.
Is there a consensus on making conclusions on evidence from non-randomized trials?
No there is no consensus. There is an inherent bias in non-randomized trials. The direction of bias is also not known. There may be an underestimation or overestimation of how effective the treatment is.
Name some key factors to consider when choosing the participants.
- How is the disease/health condition defined?
- What are the most important characteristics that describe these people (participants)?
- Are there any relevant demographic factors (such as age, sex, and ethnicity) that may affect the effect of the intervention?
- What is the setting?
- Who should make the diagnosis?
- Are there other types of people who should be excluded from the review because they are likely to react to the intervention in a different way?
- How will studies involving only a subset of relevant participants be handled?
True or False:
The eligibility criteria should not be too restrictive or too broad.
True. There needs to be diversity but the participants don’t need to be so different as to result in reacting to the intervention in a different way.
Name the key factors to consider when choosing the interventions and controls.
- What are the experimental and control (comparator) interventions of interest?
- Does the intervention have variations?
- dosage/intensity,
- mode of delivery,
- personnel who deliver it,
- frequency of delivery,
- duration of delivery,
- the timing of delivery
- Are all variations to be included (for example is there a critical dose below which the intervention may not be clinically appropriate)?
- How will trials including only part of the intervention be handled?
- How will trials including the intervention of interest combined with another intervention (co-intervention) be handled?
In reporting the conduct of the review, name the four major subheadings under which the background section should be completed.
- Description of the intervention
- Description of the health problem
- How the intervention might work
- Why it is important to do this review
In Cochrane reviews for paper journals, what is discussed in the first paragraph and what is discussed in the second paragraph of the background section?
- The first paragraph should describe the disease or health problem.
- The second paragraph should describe the rest; description of the intervention, how the intervention might work and why it is important do to this review.
True or False:
References are not necessary when discussing the background section.
False: References are necessary and should be used whenever possible. There should be a good justification for not stating the references for statements.
