Cochrane plain language summaries are highly heterogeneous with low adherence to the standards

Ref ID 445
First Author A. Jelicic Kadic
Journal BMC MEDICAL RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
Year Of Publishing 2016
URL https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4877986/pdf/12874_2016_Article_162.pdf
Keywords • Cochrane
• Abstract / summary
• General medical
Problem(s) • Errors in systematic review abstracts or plain language summaries
• Weaknesses identified in some Cochrane reviews
Article Type Empirical
Article Subtype Cross-sectional survey/Methodological systematic review
First Author Country Croatia
Aim To assess whether whether Cochrane plain language summaries published between March 2013 - January 2015 adhere to the Standards for the reporting of Plain Language Summaries in new Cochrane Intervention Reviews (PLEACS) within MECIR.
Level of Investigation Descriptive
Summary of Findings No single Cochrane plain language summary adhered fully to the PLEACS criteria. The highest adherence was found for absence of details of the search strategy (99% adherence), and the lowest adherence for an item mandating to address quality according to the GRADE system (0.7 % adherence). Overall adherence percentage of plain language studies reporting reviews with included studies was 57%.
Number of systematic reviews included 1738
Number of eligible systematic reviews assessed 1799
Treatment impacted No
Treatment impacted description
Interpretation impacted Not Applicable
Interpretation impacted description