Replication, Duplication, and Waste in a Quarter Million Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses

Ref ID 529
First Author K. C. Siontis
Journal CIRCULATION. CARDIOVASCULAR QUALITY & OUTCOMES
Year Of Publishing 2018
URL https://www.ahajournals.org/doi/pdf/10.1161/CIRCOUTCOMES.118.005212?download=true
Keywords • General medical
• Protocols
• Overlapping reviews/redundancy
Problem(s) • Redundant / overlapping / duplicated review question; leads to research waste
Number of systematic reviews included 1
Summary of Findings The discussion highlights particular areas where duplication appears pervasive such as: atrial fibrillation where there were eleven overlapping or identical meta-analyses on statin use for cardiac surgery and the authors highlight that the number of MAs in this topic has more than doubled since then, without any new meta-analysis offering something really useful. Additionally in rheumatoid arthritis, 28 network meta-analyses for biological agents were published between 2003 and 2014.
Did the article find that the problem(s) led to qualitative changes in interpretation of the results? N/A
Are the methods of the article described in enough detail to replicate the study? N/A