Systematic reviews in health care: Systematic reviews of evaluations of diagnostic and screening tests

Worldwide inequality in production of systematic reviews

Background: Investment in science is vital for the development and well-being of societies. This study aims to assess the scientific productivity of countries by quantifying their publication of systematic reviews taking the gross national income per capita (GNIPC) into account. Methods: Medline and ISI Web of Science were searched for systematic reviews published between 1st January 2006 an...

Systematic reviews of diagnostic test evaluations: what's behind the scenes?

Exploring sources of heterogeneity in systematic reviews of diagnostic tests.

It is indispensable for any meta-analysis that potential sources of heterogeneity are examined, before one considers pooling the results of primary studies into summary estimates with enhanced precision. In reviews of studies on the diagnostic accuracy of tests, variability beyond chance can be attributed to between-study differences in the selected cutpoint for positivity, in patient selection...

An overview of systematic reviews of diagnostic tests accuracy

The Cochrane Collaboration says that the Cochrane handbook for diagnostic test accuracy reviews (DTAR) is currently in development as per the Cochrane Collaboration. This implies that the methodology of systematic reviews (SR) of diagnostic test accuracy is still a matter of debate. At this point, comparison of methodologies for SR in case of interventions as against diagnostics would be helpfu...

Barriers to and Facilitators of Outpatient Health Services Utilization by Older Adults: A Systematic Reviews

Introduction: Increasing care needs for the elderly are of concern in different countries, especially in countries where their population is aging. It is important to understand the factors that influence the use of health services in the elderly for health policy making in identifying potential problems and developing appropriate interventions to improve their utilization and increase access. ...