Abstract
Background and overview. This article describes the different types of reviews of research that are available in the literature: systematic reviews and traditional reviews. Systematic reviews have become the reference standard for evidence to inform clinical practice. In this article, the authors set out guidance on appraising the quality and relevance of systematic reviews to help readers make decisions about their clinical practice.
Conclusions and practical implications. Systematic reviews are of variable quality, although evaluations of reviews by the Cochrane Collaboration generally are of the highest quality. An assessment tool described in this article appears currently to be the most useful tool to guide clinicians to assess systematic reviews and therefore to decide whether the evidence is appropriate to change practice.
Conclusions and practical implications. Systematic reviews are of variable quality, although evaluations of reviews by the Cochrane Collaboration generally are of the highest quality. An assessment tool described in this article appears currently to be the most useful tool to guide clinicians to assess systematic reviews and therefore to decide whether the evidence is appropriate to change practice.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 527-30 |
| Number of pages | 4 |
| Journal | Journal of the American Dental Association |
| Volume | 144 |
| Issue number | 5 |
| DOIs | |
| Publication status | Published - May 2013 |
Keywords
- Checklist
- Dental Research
- Dentist's Practice Patterns
- Evidence-Based Dentistry
- Humans
- Information Literacy
- Meta-Analysis as Topic
- Research Design
- Review Literature as Topic