Reporting and methodologic quality of Cochrane Neonatal review group systematic reviews

Ref ID 165
First Author K. Al Faleh
Journal BMC PEDIATRICS
Year Of Publishing 2009
URL https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2709610/
Keywords • Cochrane
• Paediatrics
• Error
• Heterogeneity
• Risk of bias
Problem(s) • Inadequate analysis of heterogeneity
• Weaknesses identified in some Cochrane reviews
• Risk of bias not incorporated into conclusions of review
• Errors in effect estimate calculations or data synthesis
Article Type Empirical
Article Subtype Cross-sectional survey/Methodological systematic review
First Author Country Saudi Arabia
Checklists • QUOROM
• OQAQ
Aim To assess the reporting (QUOROM) and methodological quality (OQAQ) of Cochrane systematic reviews from the Cochrane Neonatal Group from a random sample of all neonatal systematic reviews published in the Database of Systematic Reviews of the Cochrane Library (Issue 4, 2005).
Level of Investigation Descriptive
Summary of Findings Generally reporting methodological and quality were moderate in the 61 included Cochrane reviews. Few reviews reported adequate details on the methods of data synthesis including management of clinical (13%) and statistical (21%) heterogeneity. The risk of bias across studies was rarely summarised in the discussion (5%). Only 59% of included reviews were deemed to have combined the included studies appropriately.
Number of systematic reviews included 61
Number of eligible systematic reviews assessed 210
Treatment impacted No
Treatment impacted description
Interpretation impacted Not Applicable
Interpretation impacted description