- Framework of problems / Objective
- Inconclusive or lack of recommendations
- Conclusiveness, linguistic characteristics and readability of Cochrane plain language summaries of intervention reviews: a cross-sectional study
| Ref ID | 843 |
| First Author | A. Banic |
| Journal | BMC MEDICAL RESEARCH METHODOLOGY |
| Year Of Publishing | 2022 |
| URL | https://link.springer.com/article/10.1186/s12874-022-01721-7 |
| Keywords |
Cochrane Abstract / summary Language Certainty |
| Problem(s) |
Unwieldy/ difficult to read Inconclusive or lack of recommendations Weaknesses identified in some Cochrane reviews |
| Number of systematic reviews included | 4360 |
| Summary of Findings | From 4360 Cochrane plain language summaries of interventional studies published from 1995 to 2019. Most of the plain language summaries (80%) did not have a conclusive message. In 53% plain language summaries there was no concluding opinion about the studied intervention or the conclusion was unclear. The most frequent conclusiveness category was “no opinion” (30%), and its frequency increased over time. The median number of years of non-specific education needed to read the plain language summaries was 14.9 (IQR 13.8 to 16.1), indicating that the person needs almost 15 years of general education to read the content with ease. |
| Did the article find that the problem(s) led to qualitative changes in interpretation of the results? | Not Applicable |
| Are the methods of the article described in enough detail to replicate the study? | No |