2. Conflicts of Interest
I wish to disclose that I am affiliated with Cochrane
Nigeria, a body whose focus is the production and
dissemination of systematic reviews
3. Outline
• Eligibility Criteria
• Eligibility screening form/checklist
• Who will screen: Points to Note
• Steps in Screening
• Resolving Conflicts in Screening
• Support Tools for screening
• Documenting the Process – PRISMA flow diagram
• Reporting the process (multiple reports, excluded studies, studies
awaiting classification
4. Steps for conducting a Systematic Review
1. define the question
2. plan eligibility criteria
3. plan methods
4. search for studies
5. apply eligibility criteria
6. collect data
7. assess studies for risk of bias
8. analyse and present results
9. interpret results and draw conclusions
10. improve and update review
8. P- participants
I- intervention Eligibility criteria
C- comparison
O- outcome not usually part of the criteria
9.
10. Outline
• Eligibility Criteria
• Eligibility screening form/checklist
• Who will screen: Points to Note
• Steps in Screening
• Resolving Conflicts in Screening
• Support Tools for screening
• Documenting the Process – PRISMA flow diagram
• Reporting the process (multiple reports, excluded studies, studies
awaiting classification
11. Eligibility screening form/checklist
Develop eligibility screening
form/checklist to guide screening of
studies
Based on eligibility criteria
(population, intervention, comparator,
study design)
Pilot the form using some studies
Include studies that appear to be
included, excluded and unclear
Revise form as needed
14. Outline
• Eligibility Criteria
• Eligibility screening form/checklist
• Who will screen: Points to Note
• Steps in Screening
• Resolving Conflicts in Screening
• Support Tools for screening
• Documenting the Process – PRISMA flow diagram
• Reporting the process (multiple reports, excluded studies, studies
awaiting classification
15. Who will screen:
Some points to Note
Screening should ideally be completed in duplicate
By two persons
Independently
Some exceptions:
Rapid Reviews
Title and abstract screening (in some cases)
“Post It Memos Note” licensed under CC BY 2.0 retrieved from pixabay.com
16. Outline
• Eligibility Criteria
• Eligibility screening form/checklist
• Who will screen: Points to Note
• Steps in Screening Studies
• Resolving Conflicts in Screening
• Support Tools for screening
• Documenting the Process – PRISMA flow diagram
• Documenting/Reporting the process (multiple reports, excluded studies,
studies awaiting classification
17. Steps in Screening Studies
Title and Abstract Screening
Examine titles and abstracts
Remove obviously irrelevant Studies
Be inclusive at this stage
Studies assessed as include or unclear pass onto full text screening
Full text screening
Obtain full text article for study
Examine full text for compliance with eligibility criteria
Contact Study author/investigator for Studies that are unclear
NB: Link together multiple reports of Same study (Same trial registration,
authors, settings etc)
18. Quick Quiz
How can we resolve conflicts when screening studies for a systematic review?
a) By voting
b) By discussion and consensus
c) The lead author decides
d) Arbitration by an independent team member
e) B and D when screeners cannot reach consensus
19. Resolving Conflicts in Screening
• Discussion & Concensus
• Arbitration by a third review
author
• If no resolution
• Contact study authors for more
information
• Classify study as awaiting
classification
“Conflict” licensed under CC BY 2.0 retrieved from publicdomainpictures.net
20. Support Tools for Screening
What tools do you know
that can be used in
screening for systematic
reviews?
“Light question-mark-thought-bulb-with-icon” licensed under
CC BY 2.0 retrieved from freepngimg.com
23. Author support tools
EPPI-Reviewer
for all types of reviews
including complex, non-randomised
and qualitative reviews
https://eppi.ioe.ac.uk/cms/
28. Documenting /Reporting the Process
excluded studies
• Results section
Search results
Number Identified
Number excluded at each stage
• Characteristics of excluded studies table
Contains excluded studies with primary reason for
exclusion
Only list studies that may appear to meet
the eligibility criteria, but on closer
inspection do not
Or studies that are well known, appear
eligible and which readers would expect to
be included
• Studies awaiting Classification
29. Putting it to practice
Consider the following Systematic Review Title:
Vitamin D, calcium or a combination of vitamin D and calcium for the
treatment of nutritional rickets in children
Participants: Children 0-18 years with nutritional rickets
Study Design: Randomized Controlled Trials
Intervention/Comparisons
Calcium versus Vitamin D
(Calcium + vitamin D) versus Vitamin D
(Calcium + vitamin D) versus Calcium