Assessments of attrition bias in Cochrane systematic reviews are highly inconsistent and thus hindering trial comparability.

ABSTRACT:

Background

An important part of the systematic review methodology is appraisal of the risk of bias in included studies. Cochrane systematic reviews are considered golden standard regarding systematic review methodology, but Cochrane's instructions for assessing risk of attrition bias are vague, which may lead to inconsistencies in authors' assessments. The aim of this study was to analyze consistency of judgments and support for judgments of attrition bias in Cochrane reviews of interventions published in the Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews (CDSR).

Methods

We analyzed Cochrane reviews published from July 2015 to June 2016 in the CDSR. We extracted data on number of included trials, judgment of attrition risk of bias for each included trial (low, unclear or high) and

SUBMITTER: Babic A 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6451283 | biostudies-literature | 2019 Apr

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature