Plenary 1
Evidence­Based Child
Health: A Cochrane Review
Journal – why and how?
Martin Offringa
and Terry Klassen
Pembroke

www.evidence­basedchildhealth.com

Why and How?
Martin Offringa, MD, PhD
Co­Editor­in­Chief

Why?
o To make child health evidence
easier to find, interpret and use
o To “add value” to current
Cochrane reviews
o To increase impact of Cochrane
evidence for children
www.evidence­basedchildhealth.com

How?
oOnline journal
oPublished quarterly by Wiley
oEditorial process coordinated
by Canadian and Dutch
editorial offices
www.evidence­basedchildhealth.com

Editorial Board
o Virginia Moyer, Texas, USA
o Leontien Kremer, Amsterdam, NL
o Joan Robinson, Edmonton, Canada
o Jonathan Craig, Sydney, Australia
o Kent Stobart, Edmonton, Canada
o Lorne Becker, New York, USA
o Michael Smith, Craigavon, Northern Ireland
o Terry Klassen, Edmonton, Canada
o Martin Offringa, Amsterdam, NL
www.evidence­basedchildhealth.com

Two who make it really happen
o Denise Thomson, Edmonton, Canada
o Elvira van Dalen, Amsterdam, NL
www.evidence­basedchildhealth.com

How? (cont…)
o Each issue:
n 4­6 Cochrane reviews, reprinted in full
o Expert commentary
o Table of key findings
o Summary
n Umbrella Review
n Tips and Tricks
n Editors’ Introduction
www.evidence­basedchildhealth.com

www.evidence­basedchildhealth.com

Review reprinted in full
Summary
Expert commentary
Table of key findings
www.evidence­basedchildhealth.com

Cochrane review
o Reprinted in full so that readers have
the original source to which they can
refer
n HTML and PDF version
o Selected in an editorial process
n Relevance
n Quality
n Timeliness
n Fit
www.evidence­basedchildhealth.com

www.evidence­basedchildhealth.com

Journals Participating in the CSE Global Theme Issue on Poverty
and Human Development as of September 2006
Annals of African Medicine Nature Cell Biology
ATVB (Arteriosclerosis, Thrombosis, and Vascular Biology) Nature Genetics
BMJ Nature Immunology
Brazilian Journal of Medical and Biological Research Nature Materials
Breast Diseases: A Year Book Quarterly Nature Medicine
Canadian Pharmacists Journal Nature Methods
Circulation Nature Nanotechnology
Circulation Research Nature Physics
Clinics PLoS Biology
East African Medical Journal PLoS Clinical Trials
Environmental Health Perspectives PLoS Medicine
PNAS
Evidence Based Child Health *
Reviews of Modern Physics
Ghana Medical Journal
Science
Hypertension
Stroke
JAMA
The Lancet
Journal of Public Health Policy
Mountain Research and Development
Nature
www.evidence­basedchildhealth.com

EBCH Summary
o Aimed at health professionals
and consumers who wish a quick
overview of the review’s content
o Written by a writer at the Child
Health Field
o Peer reviewed by EB member
o example
www.evidence­basedchildhealth.com

www.evidence­basedchildhealth.com

EBCH Table of Key Findings
o Presents key outcomes of the review
o Decisions on relevant outcomes
o Statement on inference
n Building on work done by the CCA&RM
Group, GRADE, etc.
o example
www.evidence­basedchildhealth.com

www.evidence­basedchildhealth.com

www.evidence­basedchildhealth.com

www.evidence­basedchildhealth.com

Challenge: What to translate?
o ‘Demographics’
n Nr of RCTs, patients, contrasts?
n Quality SR?
n Quality RCTs?
o Contrasts, Outomes, and Subgroups
n Doses, routes, duration, delivered by whom?
n Clinical relevant, ELISAs, pain indexes?
n HQ­LQ trials?
o ‘Statistics’
n Patients ‘randomized’, or ‘analyzed’?
n Pooling heterogeneous material?
n Non pooled results?
www.evidence­basedchildhealth.com

Expert commentary
o To provide context for the
application of the evidence
presented by the review
o example
www.evidence­basedchildhealth.com

www.evidence­basedchildhealth.com

www.evidence­basedchildhealth.com

Umbrella Review
o Prepared according to the format of
the Cochrane Umbrella Reviews
Working Group
o Written on invitation
o example
www.evidence­basedchildhealth.com

www.evidence­basedchildhealth.com

Tips and Tricks
o Help readers interpret the
evidence, and use it correctly
o Written by EB members and lead
Cochrane ‘methodologist’
www.evidence­basedchildhealth.com

Editors’ Introduction
o Highlighting new developments
n in Child Health
n in Evidence Based Practice
www.evidence­basedchildhealth.com

Libraries EBCH­opt­in
Total
1000
800
600
400
200
0
March April May June July August
www.evidence­basedchildhealth.com

Geo split
Where?
France
2% 2% 3%
4%
28% Sweden
5%
Canada
10%
Australia
Japan
England
12%
19% Germany
15% USA
www.evidence­basedchildhealth.com

www.evidence­basedchildhealth.com

Acute Complications and
Eventual Remedies
Terry Klassen, MD, MSc
Co­Editor­in­Chief

The birth of a new journal
oA number of challenges
n Organizational
n Editorial
n Content­related
n Relational
www.evidence­basedchildhealth.com

Organizational challenges
o Two­site model: Canada & The
Netherlands
o Allocation of responsibilities
o Tight time frame for the first
year
www.evidence­basedchildhealth.com

Editorial challenges
oCreating an editorial board
oWhat is the role of an editor?
www.evidence­basedchildhealth.com

Content challenges
o Expert commentaries
n Guidelines for experts
n Role of experts in a EB journal?
o Umbrella reviews and summaries
n Evolving format
n Implement and test Cochrane developments
o Tables of key findings
n Pooling of heterogenous data
n Selecting relevant outcomes
www.evidence­basedchildhealth.com

Processes ­ Commentary
o‘Experts’ are invited to write
commentaries based on
clinical expertise and
experience in evidence­
based medicine
www.evidence­basedchildhealth.com

Processes – author/CRG
o The lead author of each review,
along with the CRG, are offered
the opportunity to review and
comment on the summary,
tables and commentary prior
to publication
o Review authors’ responses will
be published in EBCH, if desired
www.evidence­basedchildhealth.com

Processes – umbrella reviews
oUmbrella reviews are peer
reviewed prior to publication by
EB members and by external
reviewers
www.evidence­basedchildhealth.com

Relational challenges
o Review authors
n Duplicate publication?
n Can authors veto inclusion of their review?
o Cochrane Review Groups
n Extra work – for what reward?
n Conflict with module submission deadlines
o The Cochrane Collaboration
n Who owns Cochrane reviews?
www.evidence­basedchildhealth.com

Resolving these issues always
comes down to…
o The purpose of the journal –
making child health evidence
easier to find, interpret and use
o Make Cochrane reviews
accessible and comprehensible
www.evidence­basedchildhealth.com

Central question
o What value does EBCH add to
CLIB?
n Builds on work of the Collaboration
by making child health evidence
easier to find, interpret and use
n Translational steps involved
o We will ask our readership
n Is this the helpful format?
www.evidence­basedchildhealth.com

For more information
oChild Health Field meeting
oWednesday October 25,
12:30­13:15 (tomorrow)
www.evidence­basedchildhealth.com

Thanks!

Plenary 1
Evidence­Based Child
Health: A Cochrane Review
Journal – why and how?
Martin Offringa
and Terry Klassen
Pembroke