How to Perform a Systematic Review Flashcards
What are the 4 components of a Systematic Review?
Comprehensive search of primary studies
Selection of studies with clear and reproducible criteria
Critical appraisal
Synthesis of results
What is a meta-analysis?
Same as a systematic review followed by a pooling of numerical data across studies
Search and Inclusion of primary studies can be done via what 5 ways?
General database Subject specific database Screening of bibliographies Individual articles Contact with authors
Increases the internal validity of the studies by reducing level of bias
Quality assessment
For an RCT, outcomes are usually expressed as?
Risk ratios
Odds ratios
NNT
5 aspects of a statistically significant study
Accepted for publication Published in English Published rapidly Cited more often Electron, full-text
What guidelines are used when writing a meta-analysis or systematic review of RCT?
QUOROM
A study where participants are randomly allocated to a treatment and placebo group
Randomized Control Trial
What is a key/unique aspect of a RCT?
Seeks to falsify its own hypothesis
What is a reason that systematic reviews and meta-analyses are done over a RCT?
RCT’s are usually performed on TOO FEW people
3 Preliminary statistical questions that need to be answered in a RCT
Sample size-based on the statistical power
Duration of follow-up
Completeness of follow-up
Studies need to enroll enough people to establish?
A “power of 80-90%”
What is a statistical power?
The likelihood a study will detect an effect when there is an effect to be detected
Explain “Intention to Treat”
Those that drop out of control group are counted as if they had a positive response to placebo
Those that drop out of the tx group are counted as if they had a negative response to the tx
Will intention to treat under or over exaggerate results?
UNDER-exaggerate the outcomes
