Risk of bias in Cochrane systematic reviews: assessments of risk related to attrition bias are highly inconsistent

Ref ID 75
First Author A. Babic
Journal BMC MED RES METHODOL
Year Of Publishing 2019
URL https://bmcmedresmethodol.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12874-019-0717-9#citeas
Keywords • Risk of bias
• General medical
• Cochrane
Problem(s) • Flawed risk of bias undertaken
• Weaknesses identified in some Cochrane reviews
Number of systematic reviews included 718
Summary of Findings In Cochrane reviews, risk of bias assessments for blinding of participants and personnel were frequently not in line with Cochrane Handbook recommendations. From 718 included Cochrane reviews, 1,828 out of 6,918 judgments (26%) for performance bias were not in line with the Cochrane Handbook and were therefore considered inadequate. More accurate judgments were deemed possible to be made if the performance bias domain is by default split into two subdomains, for participants and personnel.
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? No