Inclusion criteria for outcomes of studies not clearly reported in Cochrane systematic reviews

Ref ID 589
First Author J. Verbeek
Journal JOURNAL OF CLINICAL EPIDEMIOLOGY
Year Of Publishing 2017
URL https://www.jclinepi.com/article/S0895-4356(16)30762-4/fulltext
Keywords • Pre-specification
• General medical
• Cochrane
• Multiplicity
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 Finland
Aim To assess how outcomes were defined and used for inclusion of studies and how this compares with guidance on preventing outcome reporting bias in the last review of August 2016 from each Cochrane Review Group.
Level of Investigation Descriptive
Summary of Findings 77% of reviews did not specify if and how the outcomes had been used for inclusion of studies in contrast to guidance. In the other 23%, practice ranged from outcomes not being used for inclusion at all to using both the primary and the secondary outcomes for inclusion or a detailed list of outcomes used for inclusion.
Number of systematic reviews included 52
Number of eligible systematic reviews assessed 52
Treatment impacted No
Treatment impacted description
Interpretation impacted Not Applicable
Interpretation impacted description