Lecture 10C: Systematic Review & Meta-Analysis Flashcards
What is required in a systematic review?
- Detailed description of methods
- Selection criteria of articles
- Description of search strategy
- Evaluation of methodological quality of selected articles
- Analyze findings
What does the PICO method stand for in specifying study objectives?
PICO stands for Patient, Intervention, Comparison, Outcomes.
Helps to define the review question for experimental studies
Provide an example of an exploratory systematic review question.
Does physical activity decrease the risk of developing heart disease?
How are selection criteria usually defined?
Inclusion and exclusion criteria
- Types of studies
- Types of subjects
- Types of intervention
- Types of outcome measures
What types of studies do many systematic reviews only include?
Randomized Controlled Trials (RCTs).
What is the purpose of the PEDro scale?
To evaluate the methodological quality of randomized controlled trials.
- Internal validity
- Baseline comparison
- Blinding
- Attrition
- Intention to treat
- Statistical analysis
What does a higher PEDro score indicate?
Better methodological quality.
(9-10: Excellent, 6-8: Good, 4-5: Fair, <4: Poor)
What is the first step in conducting a systematic review?
Specify the study objective.
What is included in the evaluation of articles during a systematic review?
Assessment of methodological quality and quantitative analysis.
What does a meta-analysis aim to achieve?
Combines data from similar RCTs to increase statistical power and improve treatment effect estimates.
Determine if the data are sufficient for further mathematical analysis.
What are advantages of conducting a meta-analysis?
- Increase statistical power
- Resolve uncertainty
- Improves estimate of treatment effect
- Improves generalizability
What is the significance of the forest plot in meta-analysis?
It visually represents the overall effect of an intervention across multiple studies.
True or False: A meta-analysis is an absolute requirement of a systematic review.
False.
What is the clinical message derived from synthesizing data in a systematic review?
What conclusion can be made based on the data.
What statistical method is used in meta-analysis to combine and analyze data?
Software programs.
What does ‘intention to treat’ (ITT) principle refer to in RCT evaluation?
It refers to including all randomized participants in the groups they were assigned to, regardless of whether they completed the study.
What is the purpose of screening titles and abstracts in systematic reviews?
To select papers that may be relevant to the studied topic.
What are the key characteristics to summarize during the evaluation of articles?
- Study (First author)
- Subjects
- Inclusion and exclusion criteria
- Treatment protocol
- Results
What does it mean if a treatment effect is significant in a meta-analysis?
The overall effect of the treatment is statistically significant across the studies analyzed.
Summarize the steps in a systematic review
- Specify study objective
- Define selection criteria
- Define search strategy and conduct search
- Screen and select papers
- Evaluate articles (Assessment of methodological quality and Quantitative analysis)
- Synthesize data
