But narrative reviews often have embedded within them discussions of
the sorts of questions better addressed by systematic reviews, e.g.,
specific approaches to particular diseases or problems.
However, it is true that narrative reviews are often broader in scope
than systematic reviews. That does not make the original issue, the
ghost-writing of such reviews sponsored by corporations with products
to sell, any less important. Narrative reviews do influence how
physicians approach particular clinical problems. If the reviews
have been engineered by vested interests to focus on that which will
improve the marketing of their products, the result may be that
physicians have a distorted view of the clinical problem, and hence a
distorted approach to it.
At 06:40 AM 8/7/2009, Piersante Sestini wrote:
>Dr. Carlos Cuello wrote:
>>Another reason why narrative review articles should be replaced by
>>systematic reviews
>I think that there is a misconception here. Narrative reviews (such
>as textbooks chapters, for example) and systematic reviews are not
>mutually exclusive. They are just two radically different types of
>publication aimed to different kinds of information needs:
>background (narrative) or foreground (systematic).
>You cannot get background information (general knowledge about a
>topic) by reading good systematic reviews focused to a single
>question: you need publications with a broader scope. And you
>shouldn't look for answers to foreground questions (answers to a
>specific problem) in
>narrative reviews, regardless of ghostwriting:. Obviously, without
>good background knowledge you cannot formulate good foreground
>questions, and therefore narrative reviews cannot be replaced. After
>all, most of the more popular and useful articles about EBM are
>narrative reviews..
>
>So, it is the information need to be addressed, not the possible
>robustness to ghostwriting, that should drive the choice of looking
>for different kinds of publications.
>
>regards,
>Piersante Sestini
Roy M. Poses MD
Clinical Associate Professor
Brown University School of Medicine
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