Online Program

You’ve Been Asked to Conduct a Systematic Review: Now What?

Keywords: systematic review, meta-analysis, evidence-based medicine, comparative effectiveness research

The purpose of this poster is to provide a roadmap for the statistician new to the science of systematic reviews. The steps in a systematic review are the identification, selection, appraisal, and interpretation of past research. A systematic review may include meta-analysis, which is the statistical technique used to draw inference by combining multiple studies. A systematic review is often the first step in understanding what is known and not known about a particular topic. It describes what evidence exists, and the quality, relevance and heterogeneity of that evidence from a decision-making perspective. With the focus on comparative effectiveness research motivated by healthcare reform, systematic reviews have undergone scrutiny recently in the health sciences. However, systematic reviews are not limited to healthcare. A statistician in any applied area might well be asked to conduct a systematic review and/or a meta-analysis. This poster will present recent standards for conducting a systematic review as defined by the Institute of Medicine, and compare and contrast those standards with other guidance. Resources for the interested statistician to learn more will be included.