Blinded by PRISMA: are systematic reviewers focusing on PRISMA and ignoring other guidelines?

Ref ID 557
First Author P. S. Fleming
Journal PLOS ONE
Year Of Publishing 2014
URL https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4006811/pdf/pone.0096407.pdf
Keywords • Expertise
• Team
• General medical
Problem(s) • Low reporting or methodological quality (OTHER GUIDANCE)
• Following guidelines is no guarantee of a rigorous systematic review
Article Type Empirical
Article Subtype Cross-sectional survey/Methodological systematic review
First Author Country United Kingdom
Aim To assess the use of methodological guidelines in systematic reviews citing the PRISMA guidelines over a 12-month period. Factors associated with appropriate use of guidelines including review type, field of publication and involvement of a methodologist were investigated.
Level of Investigation Analytical
Summary of Findings The guideline most frequently omitted within the subset of SRs citing only PRISMA was MOOSE, with 236/284 (83%) of epidemiologic reviews citing the latter guidelines, in isolation. Similarly, in SRs of diagnostic tests 23/57 (40%) cited PRISMA without referring to either QUADAS or QUADAS-2. In a multivariable analysis, medical field of publication and methodologist involvement were significant predictors of appropriate use of guidelines
Number of systematic reviews included 701
Number of eligible systematic reviews assessed 775
Treatment impacted No
Treatment impacted description
Interpretation impacted Not Applicable
Interpretation impacted description