A review of methodological quality of systematic reviews on multiple pregnancies

Ref ID 306
First Author P. M. Jayaram
Journal JOURNAL OF OBSTETRICS & GYNAECOLOGY
Year Of Publishing 2006
URL https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/17130017/
Keywords • Gynaecology
• Low methodological quality
• Searching
• Low reporting quality
• Heterogeneity
• Publication bias
Problem(s) • Low reporting or methodological quality (OTHER GUIDANCE)
• Insufficient literature searches
• Poor consideration of publication bias
• Inadequate analysis of heterogeneity
Article Type Empirical
Article Subtype Cross-sectional survey/Methodological systematic review
First Author Country United Kingdom
Aim To assess the methodological quality of existing systematic reviews on multiple pregnancies published in multiple databases up to 2005.
Level of Investigation Descriptive
Summary of Findings Only 57% of included reviews specified the review question. Adequate literature search without language restriction and the use of a reference list was found in 50% reviews, but the risk of missing studies was assessed in only 7% reviews. Quality assessment of included studies was reported in 50% and tabulation of their findings was reported in 57% reviews, but heterogeneity of results was evaluated in only 28% reviews.
Number of systematic reviews included 14
Number of eligible systematic reviews assessed 367
Treatment impacted No
Treatment impacted description
Interpretation impacted Not Applicable
Interpretation impacted description