To assess the quality of evidence included in recent (time period not specified) systematic reviews published in four major high impact journals (Annals of Internal Medicine, The BMJ, JAMA and Pediatrics).
Level of Investigation
Descriptive
Summary of Findings
The convenience sample found that 84% of the intervention/outcome pairs from the included studies were rated as low or insufficient quality of evidence. Only 4% were rated high, and 12% were rated moderate. Of all 76 reviews, only 42 rated the quality of evidence.
Number of systematic reviews included
76
Number of eligible systematic reviews assessed
76
Treatment impacted
No
Treatment impacted description
Interpretation impacted
Not Applicable
Interpretation impacted description
Does the article have a publicly available protocol?
No
Did the review team include both methodological and clinical experts?
Not Applicable
Sampling strategy for obtaining the systematic reviews under assessment
Purposeful
Was the sample size of systematic reviews subject to any formal sample size or power calculation?
No
Were any or all of the study selection and data extraction performed in duplicate?
No
Were any statistical adjustments made to correct for confounding?
Not Applicable
Are the methods of the article described in enough detail to replicate the study?
