About systematic Reviews
A systematic review summarises the results of available carefully designed healthcare studies (controlled trials) and provides a high level of evidence on the effectiveness of healthcare interventions. Judgments may be made about the evidence and inform recommendations for healthcare.
These reviews are complicated and depend largely on what clinical trials are available, how they were carried out (the quality of the trials) and the health outcomes that were measured. Review authors pool numerical data about effects of the treatment through a process called meta-analyses. Then authors assess the evidence for any benefits or harms from those treatments. In this way, systematic reviews are able to summarise the existing clinical research on a topic.
-Cochrane Library (n.d.) What is a systematic review? https://consumers.cochrane.org/what-systematic-review
Systematic Review resources
- Cochrane Library PICO searchPICO Search is a powerful discovery tool for finding Cochrane Reviews. With Cochrane PICO search you can search over 4500 Cochrane intervention reviews published since 2015 by:
Population (or Patient or Problem): what are the characteristics of the patient or population – e.g. a condition?
Intervention: what is the intervention under consideration for this patient or population – e.g. a drug or surgical intervention?
Comparison: what is the alternative to the intervention – e.g. a different drug or a placebo?
Outcome: what are the relevant outcomes – e.g. quality of life or adverse events?