The Centre for Reviews and Dissemination (CRD) has introduced a new feature
in the Database of Abstracts of Reviews of Effects (DARE): brief summaries
of reviews
The brief summary aims to help searchers to quickly identify what the review
is about, the authors' main conclusions and how reliable those conclusions
are. The summary captures both the main points of the review and the DARE
appraisal of its quality. This new feature will appear in all records where
the original research was published in 2003 or later. This feature is live
on the CRD website and will be available in issues of the Cochrane Library
later this year. The summaries could be useful for inclusion in current
awareness bulletins, and CRD would be keen to discuss other ways to promote
local use of the summaries.
A typical summary is shown below:
Bagnall A M, Jones L, Ginnelly L, Lewis R, Glanville J, Gilbody S, Davies L,
Torgerson D, Kleijnen J. A systematic review of atypical antipsychotic drugs
in schizophrenia. Health Technology Assessment. 2003;7(13):1-204.
This review assessed the safety and cost-effectiveness of 'atypical'
antipsychotic drugs in patients with schizophrenia. The authors concluded
that the evidence was limited and should be treated with caution. Generally,
none of the eight drugs of interest were found to be more effective than the
others, with one exception. The authors' cautious conclusions are likely to
be reliable.
http://nhscrd.york.ac.uk/online/dare/20038646.htm
CRD's databases can be searched at:
http://www.york.ac.uk/inst/crd/crddatabases.htm
CRD is funded by the NHS R&D Programme to promote access to research
evidence via databases and an enquiry service. The enquiry service is
available free of charge and is funded to provide specialist advice and help
on searching for the evidence. Staff can carry out searches for
effectiveness and cost-effectiveness evidence, on behalf of enquirers. To
contact the CRD enquiry service call 01904-321846 or email
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Julie Glanville
Associate Director
Centre for Reviews and Dissemination
University of York
York
YO10 5DD
United Kingdom
tel: (44)-1904-321096
fax: (44)-1904-321041
email: [log in to unmask]
www.york.ac.uk/inst/crd
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