Exam Two - Systematic reviews/Meta Analyses Flashcards
Narrative or systematic review?
general or focused topic
narrative
Narrative or systematic review?
no specific criteria required of studied included in review.
narrative
Narrative or systematic review?
search and selection methods not reported
narrative
Narrative or systematic review?
quality and/or level of evidence of studies included in review is rarely considered
narrative
Narrative or systematic review?
focused question PICO
systematic
Narrative or systematic review?
summary of findings from studies that meet specific criteria
systematic
Narrative or systematic review?
rigorous search and selection methods established a priori
systematic
Narrative or systematic review?
extensive analysis of the quality of individual studies included in review (usually)
systematic
why are systematic reviews helpful?
1 - it is nearly impossible to stay current
2 - SR reduce the tendency to read articles that agree with you or that you are looking for
what is step one of a SR?
state your PICO
PICO choices tend to become your…
inclusion and exclusion criteria
what are steps 2,3 of SR?
Define the lit search
- type of studies to be included
- patient population that will be included
- definition of “intervention”
what kind of studies are typically included in SR
RCTs
step 4 of a SR
comprehensive, objective literature search
- include database and search term provided
- beware of publication bias
- beware of self reporting bias
What is publication bias?
- tendency to only publish articles if you find a significant result
- overtime this results in an overabundance of articles showing a significant difference
How do you combat publication bias?
“grey literature” search for articles not available through database searching
- contact authors for unpublished data
- government studies
- dissertations/theses
what is selective reporting bias?
- outcomes that are measured in the study but not reported because another outcome had more significant results
- statistically significant outcomes are more likely to be chosen by authors for reporting
what is step 5 of SR
- retrieve/screen articles
- some do not meet predetermined criteria
- ex. must use a specific outcome measure
What is a pro of requiring a specific outcome measure reported to be included in SR
- facilitates homogeneity of the results and combining results between studies
What is a con of requiring a specific outcome measure reported to be included in SR
- excludes findings from RCTs that may affect the validity of the review’s conclusions
what is step 6,7 of SR
Review articles for quality/internal validity
- each article is typically reviewed by at least 2 reviewers
Why do you want each article to be reviewed by 2 reviewers to be included in your SR?
- assure the reader “garbage in/garbage out” does not apply
- occasionally used to statistically place more emphasis on results of high quality studies (weighting)
what is step 8,9 of the SR
synthesis/analyze findings
- the goal of SR is to synthesize results of all relevant studies that evaluate a common question to get an answer
What are the 2 methods of synthesizing results
1 - systematic review (qualitatively/descriptively)
2 - meta-analysis (statistically) we want to be able to do this one