Are more observational studies being included in Cochrane Reviews?

ABSTRACT:

Background

Increasing the scope of an evidence based approach to areas outside healthcare has renewed the importance of a long-standing discussion on randomised versus observational study designs in evaluating the effectiveness of interventions. We investigate statistically if an increasing recognition of the role of certain nonrandomised studies to support or generalize the results of randomised controlled trials has had an impact on the actual inclusion criteria applied in Cochrane reviews.

Methods

We conduct an on-line search of the Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews (CDSR) and divide all Cochrane reviews according to their design inclusion criterion: (A) RCTs only or (B) RCTs and (some subset of) observational studies. We test statistically whether a shift in the pr

SUBMITTER: Kongsted HC 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3503546 | biostudies-literature | 2012 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature