Inadequate critical appraisal of studies in systematic reviews of time to diagnosis

Ref ID 694
First Author E. Launay
Journal JOURNAL OF CLINICAL EPIDEMIOLOGY
Year Of Publishing 2016
URL https://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jclinepi.2016.03.013
Keywords • Diagnostic
Problem(s) • Risk of bias not incorporated into conclusions of review
• Limited quality assessment or no risk of bias
• Ignores setting or context of included studies which limits review applicability
Number of systematic reviews included 45
Summary of Findings Of the 45 included systematic reviews, only 51% reported a critical appraisal process. Overall 36% of all systematic reviews reported assessment of at least one item on risk of bias and/or threats to generalisability. Authors did not report how results of the critical appraisal were used in 23% of the SRs with critical appraisal.
Did the article find that the problem(s) led to qualitative changes in interpretation of the results? N/A
Are the methods of the article described in enough detail to replicate the study? Yes