Prevalence and methodological quality of systematic reviews in Korean medical journals

Ref ID 880
First Author S.J. Kim
Journal EPIDEMIOLOGY & HEALTH
Year Of Publishing 2023
URL https://www.e-epih.org/journal/view.php?doi=10.4178/epih.e2023017
Keywords • General medical
• Journalology/ Publication science
• Non-Cochrane reviews
• Low methodological quality
• Low reporting quality
• Protocols
Problem(s) • Low methodological (AMSTAR) quality
• Meta-analyses and forest plots presented without considering risk of bias / quality
• Reasons for excluding potentially eligible studies not provided
• Risk of bias not incorporated into conclusions of review
• No registered or published protocol
Article Type Empirical
Article Subtype Cross-sectional survey/Methodological systematic review
First Author Country Republic of Korea
Checklists • AMSTAR 2
Aim To assess and evaluate the prevalence and methodological quality of systematic reviews published in major Korean medical journals.
Level of Investigation Descriptive
Summary of Findings From 126 included systematic reviews published in the top 15 journals with the highest Korean Medical Citation Index, published between 2018 to 2021. There were five AMSTAR 2 items which had an adherence rate lower than 50% in the included systematic reviews. Fewer than 15% of articles adhered to items 2 (protocol availability and list of included studies), which fall under critical domains. Under half of the systematic reviews provided an assessment of the risk of bias on the results of the analysis, or in the interpretation of the results (42.7% and 43.7% respectively). The overall confidence in the methodological quality of the systematic reviews was low (9.5%) or critically low (90.5%)
Number of systematic reviews included 126
Number of eligible systematic reviews assessed 4526
Treatment impacted No
Treatment impacted description
Interpretation impacted Not Applicable
Interpretation impacted description