Systematic Reviews Hints and tips wwwccaceedacuk Ellen Backhouse wwwccaceedacuk Our systematic review Early life risk factors for stroke and subclinical cerebrovascular disease Figure 1 PRISMA Flow chart of methodology and study selection ID: 768038
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Systematic Reviews: Hints and tips www.ccace.ed.ac.uk Ellen Backhouse
www.ccace.ed.ac.uk Our systematic review Early life risk factors for stroke and subclinical cerebrovascular disease Figure 1. PRISMA Flow chart of methodology and study selection Backhouse et al., Neurology 2017; 88(7): 976-984 McHutchison et al., Epidemiol , 2017; 28(4): 608-618
Hints and tips: Before you startWrite a protocol What are the objectives of the review and what questions will be addressed? What databases are you going to search?What are your inclusion/exclusion criteria?What data are you going to extract? Quality assessmentRegister on PROSPERO www.crd.york.ac.uk/prospero/
Hints and tips: Developing a search strategy Get help from a librarian Test your search terms Do they return papers you would expect to see? Test using different databases Record the date of the search Different MeSH headlines Different use of wild cards
Hints and tips: screening articlesBe over-inclusive Note everything that might be of interestRecord clear reasons for exclusionDiscuss with the wider research group Don’t forget the supplementary materialTake breaks!
Hints and tips: Data extraction Designing the form What information should I extract? Paper/Electronic? Test the form Get someone who hasn’t been involved to test it Consider different ways of conducting double data extraction Important identifying information Easy to identify papers on the same population
Hints and tips: data analysisA table of included studies can be usefulDon’t panic if your results are heterogeneous Can use a mixture of narrative and statistical analysis Can use raw data to calculate effect sizesIf doing a meta-analysis use useful software programmes such as Review Manager RUse similar reviews for reference
Hints and tips: Write up and submission Use other programs to edit the figures (e.g. add extra labels and legends etc.) Adobe photoshop /elements Inkscape (it’s free!) MS Paint MS Powerpoint Check the journals submission requirements before you do anything Are there things that can be included as supplementary documents? Check the format for figures/tables This process can take a while – be patient! Useful for producing high quality images Can be used to make minor changes
Hints and tips: general pointsDon’t underestimate the time requiredRecord EVERYTHING Don’t panic if it takes longer than expected
Acknowledgements www.ccace.ed.ac.uk Systematic Review Team Caroline McHutchison Professor Joanna Wardlaw Dr Susie Shenkin Dr Vera Cvoro Cochrane Librarian Brenda Thomas