Replication of systematic reviews: is it to the benefit or detriment of methodological quality?

Ref ID 928
First Author C. Chapelle
Journal JOURNAL OF CLINICAL EPIDEMIOLOGY
Year Of Publishing 2023
URL https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0895435623002184
Keywords • Haematology
• Risk of bias
• Low methodological quality
• Overlapping reviews/redundancy
• Non-Cochrane reviews
• Reproducibility
Problem(s) • Redundant / overlapping / duplicated review question; leads to research waste
• High risk of bias (ROBIS)
Article Type Empirical
Article Subtype Cross-sectional survey/Methodological systematic review
First Author Country France
Checklists • ROBIS
Aim To assess the bias and methodological quality of systematic reviews evaluating direct oral anticoagulants in patients treated for an acute venous thromboembolism indexed in PubMed from inception to January 31, 2022.
Level of Investigation Descriptive
Summary of Findings From 144 included systematic reviews evaluating direct oral anticoagulants in patients treated for an acute venous thromboembolism indexed in PubMed from inception to January 31, 2022. 26 systematic reviews (18.1%) were classified as original, 87 (60.4%) as conceptual replications, and 31 (21.5%) as excessive replications (redundant). The risk of bias was high in 19 (73.1%) of the original systematic reviews, 65 (74.7%) of the conceptual replications, and 21 (67.7%) of the excessive replications. Compared to the original systematic reviews, the overall methodological quality was not improved in either conceptual or excessive replications.
Number of systematic reviews included 144
Number of eligible systematic reviews assessed 1223
Treatment impacted No
Treatment impacted description
Interpretation impacted Not Applicable
Interpretation impacted description