The methodological quality of systematic reviews on the treatment of adult major depression needs improvement according to AMSTAR 2: A cross-sectional study

Ref ID 76
First Author K. Matthias
Journal HELIYON
Year Of Publishing 2020
URL https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7479282/pdf/main.pdf
Keywords • Publication bias
• Heterogeneity
• Low reporting quality
• Searching
• Risk of bias
• Pre-specification
• Mental health
• Single reviewer
Problem(s) • No registered or published protocol
• Insufficient literature searches
• Lack of prespecification in eligibility criteria
• Reasons for excluding potentially eligible studies not provided
• Single reviewer / lack of double checking
• Individual study characteristics not reported sufficiently
• Inadequate analysis of heterogeneity
• Poor consideration of publication bias
• Flawed risk of bias undertaken
• Low methodological (AMSTAR) quality
Article Type Empirical
Article Subtype Cross-sectional survey/Methodological systematic review
First Author Country Germany
Checklists • AMSTAR 2
Aim To assess methodological quality of systematic reviews (AMSTAR 2) on pharmacological or psychological interventions in major depression in adults published across several databases during 2012–2017.
Level of Investigation Descriptive
Summary of Findings Overall confidence in the results of the included 60 systematic reviews: four reviews were rated “high”, two were “moderate”, one was “low” and 53 were “critically low”. Limitations included: No registered or published protocol; Insufficient literature searches; Lack of prespecification in eligibility criteria; Reasons for excluding potentially eligible studies not provided; Single reviewer / lack of double checking; Individual study characteristics not reported sufficiently; Inadequate analysis of heterogeneity; Poor consideration of publication bias; Flawed risk of bias undertaken.
Number of systematic reviews included 60
Number of eligible systematic reviews assessed 1524
Treatment impacted No
Treatment impacted description
Interpretation impacted Not Applicable
Interpretation impacted description