Availability of evidence and comparative effectiveness for surgical versus drug interventions: an overview of systematic reviews.

ABSTRACT:

Objectives

To examine the prevalence of comparisons of surgery to drug regimens, the strength of evidence of such comparisons, and whether surgery or the drug intervention was favored.

Design

Systematic review of systematic reviews (umbrella review).

Data sources

Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews (CDSR).

Eligibility criteria and synthesis of results

Using the search term "surg*" in CDSR, we retrieved systematic reviews of surgical interventions. Abstracts were subsequently screened to find systematic reviews that aimed to compare surgical to drug interventions; and then, among them, those that included any randomized controlled trials (RCTs) for such comparisons. Trial results data were extracted manually and synthesized into random-effects meta-analyses.

SUBMITTER: Zavalis EA 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC9915830 | biostudies-literature | 2023 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature