Cochrane Handbook for Systematic Reviews of Interventions: Cochrane Book Series

Cochrane Handbook for Systematic Reviews of Interventions......Page 3
Contents......Page 7
Preface......Page 15
Acknowledgements......Page 17
The Handbook editors......Page 19
Major contributors......Page 21
Part 1 COCHRANE REVIEWS......Page 25
1.1 The Cochrane Collaboration......Page 27
1.2 Systematic reviews......Page 30
1.3 About this Handbook......Page 31
1.4 Contributors to the Handbook......Page 32
1.6 References......Page 33
2.1 Rationale for protocols......Page 35
2.2 Format of a Cochrane review......Page 36
2.3 Logistics of doing a review......Page 37
2.4 Publication of Cochrane reviews in print journals and books......Page 48
2.6 Declaration of interest and commercial sponsorship......Page 50
2.8 References......Page 53
3.1 Introduction......Page 55
3.2 Some important definitions......Page 56
3.3 Important dates associated with Cochrane reviews......Page 63
3.4 Considerations when updating a Cochrane review......Page 66
3.5 ‘What’s new’ and History tables......Page 70
3.7 Chapter information......Page 72
3.8 References......Page 73
4 Guide to the contents of a Cochrane protocol and review......Page 75
4.2 Title and review information (or protocol information)......Page 76
4.5 Main text......Page 79
4.6 Tables......Page 94
4.7 Studies and references......Page 96
4.8 Data and analyses......Page 98
4.9 Figures......Page 100
4.11 Feedback......Page 101
4.14 References......Page 102
Part 2 GENERAL METHODS FOR COCHRANE REVIEWS......Page 105
5 Defining the review question and developing criteria for including studies......Page 107
5.1 Questions and eligibility criteria......Page 108
5.2 Defining types of participants: which people and populations?......Page 109
5.3 Defining types of interventions: which comparisons to make?......Page 110
5.4 Defining types of outcomes: which outcome measures are most important?......Page 111
5.5 Defining types of study......Page 114
5.6 Defining the scope of a review question (broad versus narrow)......Page 115
5.8 Chapter information......Page 117
5.9 References......Page 118
6 Searching for studies......Page 119
6.1 Introduction......Page 120
6.2 Sources to search......Page 122
6.3 Planning the search process......Page 142
6.4 Designing search strategies......Page 152
6.5 Managing references......Page 166
6.6 Documenting and reporting the search process......Page 168
6.7 Chapter information......Page 170
6.8 References......Page 171
7.1 Introduction......Page 175
7.2 Selecting studies......Page 176
7.3 What data to collect......Page 180
7.4 Sources of data......Page 187
7.5 Data collection forms......Page 188
7.6 Extracting data from reports......Page 191
7.7 Extracting study results and converting to the desired format......Page 194
7.8 Managing data......Page 206
7.10 References......Page 207
8 Assessing risk of bias in included studies......Page 211
8.2 What is bias?......Page 212
8.3 Tools for assessing quality and risk of bias......Page 214
8.4 Introduction to sources of bias in clinical trials......Page 217
8.5 The Cochrane Collaboration’s tool for assessing risk of bias......Page 218
8.7 Summary assessments of risk of bias......Page 226
8.8 Incorporating assessments into analyses......Page 230
8.9 Sequence generation......Page 234
8.10 Allocation sequence concealment......Page 238
8.11 Blinding of participants, personnel and outcome assessors......Page 241
8.12 Incomplete outcome data......Page 243
8.13 Selective outcome reporting......Page 250
8.14 Other potential threats to validity......Page 254
8.15 Chapter information......Page 258
8.16 References......Page 259
9 Analysing data and undertaking meta-analyses......Page 267
9.1 Introduction......Page 268
9.2 Types of data and effect measures......Page 273
9.3 Study designs and identifying the unit of analysis......Page 284
9.4 Summarizing effects across studies......Page 287
9.5 Heterogeneity......Page 300
9.6 Investigating heterogeneity......Page 306
9.7 Sensitivity analyses......Page 313
9.8 Chapter information......Page 316
9.9 References......Page 317
10 Addressing reporting biases......Page 321
10.1 Introduction......Page 322
10.2 Types of reporting biases and the supporting evidence......Page 323
10.3 Avoiding reporting biases......Page 332
10.4 Detecting reporting biases......Page 334
10.5 Chapter information......Page 348
10.6 References......Page 349
11.1 Introduction......Page 359
11.2 ‘Characteristics of included studies’ tables......Page 360
11.3 Data and analyses......Page 361
11.4 Figures......Page 365
11.5 ‘Summary of findings’ tables......Page 366
11.6 Additional tables......Page 374
11.7 Presenting results in the text......Page 375
11.8 Writing an abstract......Page 376
11.9 Writing a plain language summary......Page 379
11.10 Chapter information......Page 380
11.11 References......Page 381
12 Interpreting results and drawing conclusions......Page 383
12.1 Introduction......Page 384
12.2 Assessing the quality of a body of evidence......Page 385
12.3 Issues in applicability......Page 391
12.4 Interpreting results of statistical analyses......Page 393
12.5 Interpreting results from dichotomous outcomes (including numbers needed to treat)......Page 396
12.6 Interpreting results from continuous outcomes (including standardized mean differences)......Page 401
12.7 Drawing conclusions......Page 404
12.8 Chapter information......Page 406
12.9 References......Page 407
Part 3 SPECIAL TOPICS......Page 413
13 Including non-randomized studies......Page 415
13.1 Introduction......Page 416
13.2 Developing criteria for including non-randomized studies......Page 420
13.3 Searching for non-randomized studies......Page 428
13.4 Selecting studies and collecting data......Page 431
13.5 Assessing risk of bias in non-randomized studies......Page 436
13.6 Synthesis of data from non-randomized studies......Page 443
13.7 Interpretation and discussion......Page 448
13.8 Chapter information......Page 452
13.9 References......Page 453
14.1 Introduction......Page 457
14.2 Scope of a review addressing adverse effects......Page 458
14.3 Choosing which adverse effects to include......Page 461
14.4 Types of studies......Page 462
14.5 Search methods for adverse effects......Page 463
14.6 Assessing risk of bias for adverse effects......Page 466
14.7 Chapter information......Page 469
14.8 References......Page 470
15.1 The role and relevance of economics evidence in Cochrane reviews......Page 473
15.2 Planning the economics component of a Cochrane review......Page 478
15.3 Locating studies......Page 483
15.4 Selecting studies and collecting data......Page 486
15.5 Addressing risk of bias......Page 487
15.6 Analysing and presenting results......Page 492
15.7 Addressing reporting biases......Page 496
15.9 Conclusions......Page 498
15.11 References......Page 500
16 Special topics in statistics......Page 505
16.1 Missing data......Page 506
16.2 Intention-to-treat issues......Page 512
16.3 Cluster-randomized trials......Page 517
16.4 Cross-over trials......Page 522
16.5 Studies with more than two intervention groups......Page 532
16.6 Indirect comparisons and multiple-treatments meta-analysis......Page 537
16.7 Multiplicity and the play of chance......Page 540
16.8 Bayesian and hierarchical approaches to meta-analysis......Page 542
16.9 Rare events (including zero frequencies)......Page 544
16.11 References......Page 548
17 Patient-reported outcomes......Page 555
17.1 What are patient-reported outcomes?......Page 556
17.2 Patient-reported outcomes and Cochrane reviews......Page 557
17.3 Health status and quality of life as PRO outcomes......Page 558
17.4 Issues in the measurement of patient-reported outcomes......Page 561
17.5 Locating and selecting studies with patient-reported outcomes......Page 562
17.6 Assessing and describing patient-reported outcomes......Page 563
17.7 Comparability of different patient-reported outcome measures......Page 564
17.8 Interpreting results......Page 565
17.9 Chapter information......Page 567
17.10 References......Page 568
18 Reviews of individual patient data......Page 571
18.1 Introduction......Page 572
18.2 The collaborative nature of IPD meta-analyses......Page 574
18.3 Dealing with data......Page 575
18.4 Analysis......Page 577
18.5 Limitations and caveats......Page 579
18.6 Chapter information......Page 580
18.7 References......Page 581
19.1 Introduction......Page 583
19.2 The collaborative nature of prospective meta-analyses......Page 586
19.3 The prospective meta-analysis protocol......Page 587
19.4 Data collection in prospective meta-analysis......Page 590
19.5 Analysis issues in prospective meta-analysis......Page 591
19.7 References......Page 593
20 Qualitative research and Cochrane reviews......Page 595
20.2 Incorporating evidence from qualitative research in Cochrane Intervention reviews: concepts and issues......Page 596
20.3 Qualitative evidence synthesis......Page 600
20.4 Chapter information......Page 607
20.5 References......Page 608
20.6 Further selected reading......Page 611
21.1 Introduction......Page 617
21.3 Searching......Page 618
21.4 Assessment of study quality and risk of bias......Page 619
21.5 Ethics and inequalities......Page 621
21.6 Context......Page 623
21.7 Sustainability......Page 624
21.8 Applicability and transferability......Page 625
21.10 References......Page 627
22.1 Introduction......Page 631
22.2 Preparing a Cochrane Overview of reviews......Page 632
22.3 Format of a Cochrane Overview......Page 637
22.5 References......Page 655
Index......Page 657