Quality assessment of observational studies is not commonplace in systematic reviews

Ref ID 592
First Author C. Mallen
Journal JOURNAL OF CLINICAL EPIDEMIOLOGY
Year Of Publishing 2006
URL https://www.jclinepi.com/article/S0895-4356(06)00026-6/fulltext
Keywords Observational studies
Risk of bias
General medical
Problem(s) Inclusion of observational / non-randomised studies
No quality assessment undertaken or reported
Number of systematic reviews included 32
Summary of Findings Six (22%) of the 1999–2000 articles described quality assessment of original studies, compared with 39 (50%) of articles published in 2003–2004. Ten different quality assessment tools were identified in the later cohort indicating a lack of consensus in appropriate critical appraisal of observational studies.
Did the article find that the problem(s) led to qualitative changes in interpretation of the results? Not Applicable
Are the methods of the article described in enough detail to replicate the study? Yes