| Ref ID | 433 |
| First Author | S. D. French |
| Journal | BMC MEDICAL RESEARCH METHODOLOGY |
| Year Of Publishing | 2005 |
| URL | https://bmcmedresmethodol.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/1471-2288-5-33 |
| Keywords |
• Cochrane • General medical • Currency |
| Problem(s) |
• Not updated regularly |
| Article Type | Empirical |
| Article Subtype | Cross-sectional survey/Methodological systematic review |
| First Author Country | Australia |
| Aim | To assess the effect of updating Cochrane systematic reviews over a four year period (1998-2002) on conclusions of the reviews. |
| Level of Investigation | Descriptive |
| Summary of Findings | 70% of included reviews had been updated. Of these updated reviews 9% had a change in conclusion. Both an increase in precision and a change in statistical significance of the primary outcome were predictive of a change in conclusion of the review. |
| Number of systematic reviews included | 362 |
| Number of eligible systematic reviews assessed | 377 |
| Treatment impacted | Yes |
| Treatment impacted description | |
| Interpretation impacted | Yes |
| Interpretation impacted description | Updating all reviews as frequently as every two years may not be necessary, however some reviews may need to be updated more often than every two years. |