Cochrane systematic reviews of interventions for risk factors correlate weakly with global risk factor burden: a cross-sectional study

Ref ID 618
First Author D. J. Roberts
Journal JOURNAL OF CLINICAL EPIDEMIOLOGY
Year Of Publishing 2018
URL https://www.jclinepi.com/article/S0895-4356(17)30548-6/fulltext
Keywords • Cochrane
• General medical
Problem(s) • Review question not justified / important
• Weaknesses identified in some Cochrane reviews
Article Type Empirical
Article Subtype Cross-sectional survey/Methodological systematic review
First Author Country United Kingdom
Aim To assess whether a sample of Cochrane systematic reviews correlate with risk factor burden as assessed by the Global Burden of Disease Study 2015
Level of Investigation Descriptive
Summary of Findings Risk factors were an outcome a total of 965 times. These factors correlated weakly with global disease burden in disability-adjusted life years (r = 0.45) for all risk factors, but was high (r = 0.83) for metabolic risks, similar for behavioural risks (r = 0.46), and weak negative for occupational and environmental risks (r = 0.40).
Number of systematic reviews included 400
Number of eligible systematic reviews assessed 6392
Treatment impacted No
Treatment impacted description
Interpretation impacted Not Applicable
Interpretation impacted description