Outcomes in Cochrane systematic reviews addressing four common eye conditions: an evaluation of completeness and comparability

Ref ID 571
First Author I. J. Saldanha
Journal PLOS ONE
Year Of Publishing 2014
URL https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/25329377/
Keywords • Ophthalmology
• Pre-specification
• Multiplicity
• Cochrane
Problem(s) • Multiplicity of outcomes and lack of pre-specification for outcome reporting
Article Type Empirical
Article Subtype Cross-sectional survey/Methodological systematic review
First Author Country United States
Aim To assess whether Cochrane reviews completely prespecified relevant outcomes for common eye conditions according to the outcome's: 1) domain; 2) specific measurement; 3) specific metric; 4) method of aggregation; 5) time points
Level of Investigation Descriptive
Summary of Findings Five key outcome domains appeared 145 times across the 57 included Cochrane review protocols. Only 15/145 instances (10.3%) were completely specified (where all five elements of quality-of-life, visual acuity, intraocular pressure, disease progression, and contrast sensitivity). On average, the most common elements to be pre-specified were domain and time points. Primary outcomes were more completely specified than non-primary (median = four versus two elements). Quality-of-life was least completely specified (median = one element). Due to largely incomplete outcome pre-specification, conclusive assessment of comparability in outcome usage across the various protocols per condition was not possible.
Number of systematic reviews included 57
Number of eligible systematic reviews assessed 57
Treatment impacted No
Treatment impacted description
Interpretation impacted Not Applicable
Interpretation impacted description