Methodological quality and reporting quality of COVID-19 living systematic review: a cross-sectional study

Ref ID 933
First Author J. Luo
Journal BMC MEDICAL RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
Year Of Publishing 2023
URL https://bmcmedresmethodol.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12874-023-01980-y
Keywords • Low reporting quality
• Low methodological quality
• Living
• COVID
Problem(s) • Interpreted without considering certainty or overall quality of the evidence base
• Low methodological (AMSTAR) quality
• Low reporting (PRISMA) quality
Article Type Empirical
Article Subtype Cross-sectional survey/Methodological systematic review
First Author Country China
Checklists • PRISMA 2020
• AMSTAR 2
Aim To assess the methodological quality (AMSTAR-2) and reporting quality (PRISMA 2020) of COVID-19 living systematic reviews indexed across Medline, Embase, Cochrane Library, China national knowledge infrastructure, Wanfang Database, and China Science, Technology Journal Database (VIP) from inception until December 9, 2021, with additional searches conducted on May 13, 2022.
Level of Investigation Analytical
Summary of Findings From 64 included living systematic reviews of COVID-19 indexed across Medline, Embase, Cochrane Library, China national knowledge infrastructure, Wanfang Database, and China Science, Technology Journal Database (VIP) from inception until December 9, 2021, with additional searches conducted on May 13, 2022. 21.9% of the 64 living systematic reviews of COVID-19 were rated as "high", 4.7% as "moderate", 23.4% as "low", and 50% as "critically low" methodological quality according to AMSTAR-2. For reporting quality (PRISMA 2020) "Certainty of evidence" had the worst reporting quality, with only 41% of COVID-19 reviews fully reporting it. The number of included studies, and registration were associated with AMSTAR-2 levels.
Number of systematic reviews included 64
Number of eligible systematic reviews assessed 1043
Treatment impacted No
Treatment impacted description
Interpretation impacted Not Applicable
Interpretation impacted description