Print

Print


Re-sending without the attachment as the list rejects, but you can download
from the link, Tom.


Senior Research Fellow in Public Health & Lecturer in EBM
CSFM, School of Medicine, University of Crete
Skype: elenapetelos

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Petelos, E. <[log in to unmask]>
Date: Thu, Apr 27, 2017 at 12:36 PM
Subject: Re: Systematic reviews, what am I missing?
To: Tom Jefferson <[log in to unmask]>
Cc: [log in to unmask], "Dr E. Petelos" <
[log in to unmask]>


Hi, Tom.

I had just downloaded it, actually. Link for PDF and attached file.

https://oup.silverchair-cdn.com/oup/backfile/Content_public/
Journal/bmb/121/1/10.1093_bmb_ldw058/6/ldw058.pdf?Expires=14
93634717&Signature=hFmOpdsWHM2mSwKTdIUDQ1moL6hyB-AxadbNcLoHr
M7HWZjzE5JhdINz51WZIUKW5iJTLXFok6WuJ8Zvpl4DO2UH6ebWl6KEZhjqn
nVaX-SEy~6A-oKd9czUwjeabF7Bd48rzWxuRMzlBBo-Pguia8qBHNPxfKVRO
dgRwpR1nmdKT~4hpRuGLRY~JV9H5kTiHi6BB88~639zjuDknh-WNHJj6nNDg
SNgsxSy8tgkJG2GQiUPzH~NPeElgvlYFf24Y5BCHBocfVI8WgY4m9xHSUP8O
zD5ZB9T4vTNHcXShhSyzlwIqtXOUT6fmBkgvw2SFo4lrOtNxHq8jI26HYXk0
w__&Key-Pair-Id=APKAIUCZBIA4LVPAVW3Q


Kind regards

Elena






On Thu, Apr 27, 2017 at 12:30 PM, Tom Jefferson <[log in to unmask]>
wrote:

> Norman, could you please send a pdf of the paper?
>
> Thanks,
>
> Tom.
>
> Dr Tom Jefferson
> Senior Associate Tutor
> University of Oxford
> Oxford OX2 6GG
>
> On 27 April 2017 at 11:28, Norman Vetter <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
>
>> We have recently published a review on the ethics of reporting all the
>> results of clinical trials:
>>
>> https://academic.oup.com/bmb/article/121/1/19/2926156/The-et
>> hics-of-reporting-all-the-results-of
>>
>> Norman Vetter
>>
>> On 27 April 2017 at 09:59, Jon Brassey <[log in to unmask]>
>> wrote:
>>
>>> Stimulated by a recent paper on stem cells (
>>> http://www.cell.com/stem-cell-reports/pdf/S2213-6711%2817%2930119-4.pdf)
>>> reported that nearly half of stem cells trials aren't reported.  This falls
>>> in the range of OpenTrials which report 30-50% of trials aren't reported.
>>> It got me thinking:
>>>
>>>    - Many trials are unpublished.
>>>    - Even Cochrane (one of the better SR publishers) does a poor job of
>>>    handling unpublished studies (eg http://www.bmj.com/content/346
>>>    /bmj.f2231)
>>>    - Only including published trials can have a profound effect on the
>>>    outcome of a systematic review (e.g. http://www.nejm.org/doi/full/1
>>>    0.1056/NEJMsa065779 & http://www.bmj.com/content/344/bmj.d7202)
>>>
>>> Further. a couple of definitions of systematic reviews:
>>>
>>> 1) A Brief History of Research Synthesis EVALUATION & THE HEALTH
>>> PROFESSIONS, Vol. 25 No. 1, March 2002 12-37
>>> *SYSTEMATIC REVIEW The application of strategies that limit bias in the
>>> assembly, critical appraisal, and synthesis of all relevant studies on a
>>> specific topic. Meta-analysis may be, but is not necessarily, used as part
>>> of this process.*
>>>
>>> 2) Cochrane's
>>> <http://www.cochranelibrary.com/about/about-cochrane-systematic-reviews.html>
>>> *A systematic review attempts to identify, appraise and synthesize all
>>> the empirical evidence that meets pre-specified eligibility criteria to
>>> answer a given research question. Researchers conducting systematic reviews
>>> use explicit methods aimed at minimizing bias, in order to produce more
>>> reliable findings that can be used to inform decision making.*
>>>
>>> The first definition would suggest - as it states '*all relevant
>>> studies*' - that most systematic reviews are not really systematic
>>> reviews as they miss lots of trials.
>>> The second definition is more flexible by saying "*..attempts to
>>> identify, appraise and synthesize...*".  It's more flexible as it's not
>>> saying '*all*' merely that you '*attempt*' to identify all the
>>> evidence.
>>>
>>> So, two questions to the group:
>>>
>>>
>>>    - Based on the first definition, are systematic reviews that don't
>>>    include 'all relevant studies' not actually systematic reviews?
>>>    - Based on the second definition, any clue as to how hard one should
>>>    'attempt' to locate all the evidence?  For instance, systematic
>>>    reviews tend to try to locate ALL published journal articles and -
>>>    generally - a fairly poor attempt at unpublished trials, who decided that
>>>    and is it evidence based?
>>>
>>> I look forward to hearing from you all.
>>>
>>> Best wishes
>>>
>>> jon
>>>
>>> --
>>>
>>> Jon Brassey
>>> Director, Trip Database <http://www.tripdatabase.com>
>>> Honorary Fellow at CEBM <http://www.cebm.net>, University of Oxford
>>> Creator, Rapid-Reviews.info
>>>
>>>
>>
>>
>>
>> --
>> Norman Vetter
>> Web page: www.normanvetter.com
>>
>
>