Critical Appraisal

Question 1

Define critical appraisal

Answer 1

The process of carefully & systematically examining research to judge its trustworthiness & value and relevance in a particular context

Question 2

How to develop a specific question?

Answer 2

PICO

Patient/ population

Intervention/ exposure

Comparison

Outcome

Make all of these as specific as possible in a question

Question 3

Resources for finding evidence

Answer 3

NHS evidence
Cochrane library
Google scholar
PUBMED

Question 4

The proccess of critical appraisal

Answer 4

Formulate PICO question

Identify keywords for each PICO element

Plan search strategy

Execute the search

Refine results

Review literature

Assess evidence

Question 5

Critical appraisal key issues

Answer 5

Research aim and question
(often at end of intro, apply PICO, identify primary outcome of interest, can be generalised/ applicable to your population)

Question 6

Critical appraisal bias

Answer 6

• selection bias (systematic difference between ppl selected and not) should describe how study sample developed
• data collection (self-reported, rely on recall, tools valid, drop out)

Question 7

Cross-sectional studies pros and cons

Answer 7

• determining burden of disease
• generating hypothesis
• descriptive or analytical
• easy and quick
• snapshot can’t determine temporal sequence
• prone to bias and confounding
• response bias

Question 8

Specific issues for ecological studies

Answer 8

Population clearly defined

Sources must be described and be reliable, accurate, complete, allow meaningful comparison