Meta-epidemiological

BACKGROUND: Network meta-analyses can be valuable for decision-makers in guiding clinical practice. However, for network meta-analysis results to be reliable, the assumptions of both transitivity and coherence must be met, and the methodology should adhere to current best practices. We aimed to assess whether network meta-analyses of randomized controlled trials (RCTs) comparing interventions for proximal humerus fractures provide reliable estimates of intervention effects. METHODS: We searched PubMed, EMBASE, The Cochrane Library, and Web of Science for network meta-analyses comparing interventions for proximal humerus fractures...

Accurate disclosure of financial conflicts of interest (COI) among clinical practice guideline (CPG) developers is critical to ensure the quality of CPGs. However, there is limited evidence on the impact of underreporting COIs on the quality of CPGs. This study aimed to examine the proportion of underreported COI disclosures in the development of Japanese CPGs and to estimate the association between underreported COIs and CPG quality using the Appraisal of Guidelines for Research & Evaluation (AGREE) II...

The paper introduces the Special Sections of the European Journal of Physical and Rehabilitation Medicine dedicated to the 5th Methodological Meeting of Cochrane Rehabilitation. It introduces Cochrane Rehabilitation; its vision, mission and goals; discusses why the Methodological Meetings were created; and reports on their organisation and previous outcomes. The core content of this editorial is the 5th Methodological Meeting held in Milan in September 2023. The original title for this meeting was "The Rehabilitation Evidence Ecosystem: useful study designs...

This study aimed to synthesize evidence from studies that addressed the influence of bias domains in randomized controlled trials on rehabilitation intervention effect estimates and discuss how these findings can maximize the trustworthiness of an RCT in rehabilitation. We screened studies about the influence of bias on rehabilitation intervention effect estimates published until June 2023. The characteristics and results of the included studies were categorized based on methodological characteristics and summarized narratively...

OBJECTIVE: Our goal was to review current peer-reviewed articles in which the BDI (Beck Depression Inventory), PHQ-9 (Patient Health Questionnaire), or QIDS-SR16 (16-Item Quick Inventory of Depressive Symptomatology) was used as the primary or secondary outcome measure and to evaluate the quality of PRO (Patient-Reported Outcome) reporting in RCTs (Randomized Controlled Trials) according to the 2013 PRO-specific CONSORT (Consolidated Standards of Reporting Trials) extension. METHODS: We systematically searched in electronic databases...

Systematic reviews (SRs) with complete reporting or rigorous methods can lead to less biased recommendations and decisions. A comprehensive analysis of the epidemiological and reporting characteristics of SRs in orthopedics is lacking. We evaluated 360 SRs, including 165 and 195 published in orthopedic journals in 2012 and 2022. According to the established reporting guidelines, we examined these SRs for key epidemiological characteristics, including focus areas, type of meta-analysis (MA), and reporting characteristics...

BACKGROUND: Systematic reviews of Randomized Controlled Trials (RCTs) are considered high-level evidence to support a decision on therapeutic interventions, and their methodological quality is essential to provide reliable and applicable results. OBJECTIVE: This meta-epidemiological study aimed to map and critically appraise systematic reviews assessing treatments for vesiculobullous skin diseases. METHODS: We conducted a comprehensive search strategy on MEDLINE (via Pubmed) in December 2022 without restrictions to find systematic reviews evaluating pharmacological interventions for vesiculobullous skin diseases...

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: Traumatic spinal cord injuries (SCI), which disproportionally occur in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs), pose a significant global health challenge. Despite the prevalence and severity of SCI in these settings, access to appropriate surgical care and barriers to treatment remain poorly understood on a global scale, with data from LMICs being particularly scarce and underreported. This study sought to examine the impact of social determinants of health (SDoH) on the pooled in-hospital and follow-up mortality, and neurological outcomes, after SCI in LMICs...

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the strength of the evidence for, and the extent of, overdiagnosis in non-cancer conditions. STUDY DESIGN AND SETTING: We systematically searched for studies investigating overdiagnosis in non-cancer conditions. Using the 'Fair Umpire' framework to assess the evidence that cases diagnosed by one diagnostic strategy but not by another may be overdiagnosed, two reviewers independently identified whether a Fair Umpire - a disease-specific clinical outcome, a test result or risk factor that can determine whether an additional case does or does not have disease - was present...

OBJECTIVES: To investigate the impact of potential risk of bias elements on effect estimates in randomized trials. STUDY DESIGN AND SETTING: We conducted a systematic survey of meta-epidemiological studies examining the influence of potential risk of bias elements on effect estimates in randomized trials. We included only meta-epidemiological studies that either preserved the clustering of trials within meta-analyses (compared effect estimates between trials with and without the potential risk of bias element within each meta-analysis, then combined across meta-analyses; between-trial comparisons), or preserved the clustering of substudies within trials (compared effect estimates between substudies with and without the element, then combined across trials; within-trial comparisons)...

AIMS: The aim of this meta-analysis is to evaluate the potential correlation between obesity and overweight, and the vulnerability to urinary incontinence (UI) in women aged middle-aged and above. METHODS: We searched PubMed, Cochrane Library, and Embase for observational studies published between the inception of the databases and April 25, 2023. A fixed-effects model was used when the P>0.1 and the I2 ≤ 50%. In cases where I2 ≥ 50% (indicating significant heterogeneity), a random-effects model was applied...

BACKGROUND: The advertisement and adoption of untested orthodontic products is common. This study aimed to provide an update regarding the prevalence of clinical trials in orthodontics evaluating commercially marketed products. Associations between marketed/non-marketed products and study characteristics such as direction of effect, declaration of conflict of interest and industry sponsorship were evaluated. In addition, within the marketed products associations between direction of effect and study characteristics were explored...

No abstract text is available yet for this article.

BACKGROUND: Assessing certainty of evidence is a key element of any systematic review. The aim of this meta-epidemiology study was to understand the frequency and ways with which certainty of evidence is assessed in contemporary systematic reviews published in high-impact sports science journals. METHODS: We searched PubMed and relevant journal web sites from 1 August 2016 to 11 October 2022 for systematic reviews published in the top-ten highest-impact journals within the 2020 Journal Citation Report for the Sports Sciences category...

BACKGROUND: The relationship between sleep disturbances and lung cancer is complex and bidirectional. This meta-epidemiological study aimed to explore the potential association between sleep disruption and the risk of pulmonary cancer. METHODS: We conducted a comprehensive literature search of the PubMed, Embase, Cochrane Library, and Web of Science databases to retrieve relevant studies. We employed the Newcastle-Ottawa Scale to assess the quality of the observational studies...

No abstract text is available yet for this article.

OBJECTIVE: To explore the relationships between the risk of bias and treatment effect estimates for exercise therapy interventions on pain intensity and physical functioning outcomes in randomised controlled trials (RCTs) involving patients with chronic low back pain. STUDY DESIGN AND SETTING: Cross-sectional meta-epidemiological study. STUDY SELECTION: The 230 RCTs (31,674 participants) in the 2021 'Exercise therapy for chronic low back pain' Cochrane Review were included...

OBJECTIVE: Preprints became a major source of research communication during the COVID-19 pandemic. We aimed to evaluate whether summary treatment effect estimates differ between preprint and peer-reviewed journal trials. STUDY DESIGN AND SETTING: A meta-epidemiological study. Data were derived from the COVID-NMA living systematic review (covid-nma.com) up to July 20, 2022. We identified all meta-analyses evaluating pharmacological treatments vs. standard of care/placebo for patients with COVID-19 that included at least one preprint and one peer-reviewed journal article...

We conducted a meta-epidemiological study on all NSLBP trial registrations on the World Health Organization International Clinical Trials Registry Platform and ClinicalTrials.gov. We aimed to: (1) assess the uptake of the core outcome set (COS) for non-specific low back pain (NSLBP) in clinical trials; (2) assess the uptake of the core outcome measurement set (COMS) for NSLBP in clinical trials; and (3) determine whether specific study characteristics are associated with the COS uptake. After applying the relevant filters for the condition, study type, and the phase of the trial, 240 registry entries were included in this study...

OBJECTIVES: In anticancer clinical trials, particularly open-label trials, central reviewers are recommended to evaluate progression-free survival (PFS) and objective response rate (ORR) to avoid detection bias of local investigators. However, it is not clear whether the bias has been adequately identified, or to what extent it consistently distorts the results. Therefore, the objective of this study was to evaluate the detection bias in oncological open-label trials by confirming whether local investigators overestimate the PFS and ORR compared with the findings of central reviewers...