What is a Systematic review?

Systematic reviewCombination of the best research projects in a

specific area• Selecting• Identifying• Synthesizing

Health care sciences:

Clinical tests Social interventions Medicine and

healthcareEconomic evaluations

Public and health interventions

Traditional review Systematic review

They are not led by peer-reviewed protocol and it is no possible to replicate

the findings

They are led by peer-reviewed protocol and it is possible to replicate the findings

They are not explicit about how studies are selected, assessed and integrated

They are explicit about how studies are selected, assessed and integrated

Lack of rigor High quality of rigor

Different conclusions Common conclusion between reviewers

Defining questions

Searching literature

Assessing studies

Combining results

Discuss results

Meta- analysisStatistical research technique

Combination of:o Quantitativeo Qualitative

Statistical difference between 2 treatments

Advantages

1. Overcoming bias. Narrative reviews could introduce bias. A meta-analysis can overcome these dangers.

2. Precision. These researches detect clinical significant effects.

3. Transparency. Allow readers to determine the reasonableness of the decisions taken.

Location of studies

Quality assessmen

t

Effect sizeAvoid

publication bias

Sensitivity analysis