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Table 3 Summary of recommendations from 93 publication by key item

From: Methods to systematically review and meta-analyse observational studies: a systematic scoping review of recommendations

Key item

No of articles providing recommendation

Topic of recommendation

N articles addressing area (%)a

Protocol development

16

Need for protocol to be written in advance

12 (75%)

  

Items to be included in protocol

11 (69%)

Research question

20

Scope of research question

20 (100%)

Search strategy

33

General methods for conducting searches in context of observational studies

22 (67%)

  

Specific challenges in searching for observational studies

12 (36%)

Study eligibility

22

Specifying eligibility criteria

22 (100%)

  

Assessment of eligibility

6 (27%)

Data extraction

9

Methods for data extraction

9 (100%)

Dealing with different study designs

25

Inclusion of different study designs in a single review

10 (40%)

  

Combining results from different study designs in a single meta-analysis

15 (60%)

Risk of bias assessment

39

Methods to assess the risk of bias in individual studies

39 (100%)

Publication bias

20

Inclusion of unpublished studies

5 (25%)

  

Methods to assess publication bias

7 (35%)

Heterogeneity

39

Measurement of heterogeneity

39 (100%)

  

Exploring potential causes of heterogeneity

16 (41%)

Statistical analysis

52

Deciding to combine results in a single effect estimate

20 (38%)

  

Choosing fixed or random effects meta-analysis

16 (31%)

  1. aPercentages do not add up to 100% because articles can contribute recommendations to more than one topic and only the most frequent areas of recommendation for each key item are listed