Table 3 Methodological characteristics for non-Cochrane child-relevant systematic reviews published in 2014, overall and by type of review question
From: A descriptive analysis of non-Cochrane child-relevant systematic reviews published in 2014
Methodological characteristics | Overall (n = 1598) | Type of review questiona | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Therapeutic (n = 753) | Epidemiology (n = 701) | Diagnostic/ Prognostic (n = 91) | Other (n = 53) | ||
Objective stated, n (%) | 1587 (99.3) | 750 (99.6) | 694 (99.0) | 90 (98.9) | 53 (100.0) |
Primary outcome(s) specified, n (%) | 374 (23.4) | 281 (37.3) | 74 (10.6) | 17 (18.7) | 2 (3.8) |
When not stated, outcomes of interest can be inferred, n (%) | 1099 (89.8) | 405 (85.8) | 580 (92.5) | 65 (87.8) | 49 (96.1) |
Quality of included studies assessedb, n (%) | 953 (59.6) | 532 (70.7) | 325 (46.4) | 63 (69.2) | 33 (62.3) |
Certainty of the body of evidence assessed using GRADEb, n (%) | |||||
 Yes | 72 (4.5) | 58 (7.7) | 12 (1.7) | 2 (2.2) | 0 (0.0) |
 Used another method | 30 (1.9) | 17 (2.3) | 8 (1.1) | 1 (1.1) | 4 (7.5) |
 No | 1492 (93.4) | 674 (89.5) | 681 (97.1) | 88 (96.7) | 49 (92.5) |
Evidence synthesis method, n (%) | |||||
 Narrative only | 741 (46.4) | 352 (46.7) | 307 (43.8) | 36 (39.6) | 46 (86.8) |
 Statistical | 857 (53.6) | 401 (53.3) | 394 (56.2) | 55 (60.4) | 7 (13.2) |
When synthesized statistically, analysis method used, n (%) | |||||
 Meta-analysis | 827 (96.5) | 384 (95.8) | 387 (98.2) | 50 (90.9) | 6 (85.7) |
 Network meta-analysis | 5 (0.6) | 5 (1.2) | 0 (0.0) | 0 (0.0) | 0 (0.0) |
 Individual patient data meta- analysis | 12 (1.4) | 8 (2.0) | 0 (0.0) | 4 (7.3) | 0 (0.0) |
 Otherc | 13 (1.5) | 4 (1.0) | 7 (1.8) | 1 (1.8) | 1 (14.3) |