Reviews and Evidence Syntheses: Umbrella Review

The goal of an umbrella review is to provide a user-friendly summary of the recommendations and conclusions published in systematic reviews or meta analyses on a topic.  They give clinicians, policy makers, and others the ability to quickly understand what multiple evidence syntheses have found and act on that information.

Key features include:

• The only type of publication included is a previous systematic review of meta analysis rather than primary studies such as randomized controlled trials, etc.
• Provide overviews of broad research questions (sometimes even broader than the individual systematic reviews included) by comparing systematic reviews that may iinclude
  • Different interventions for the same problem
  • Different methods for the same intervention
  • Different populations for the same intervention
• Assessment the quality of the included systematic reviews to ensure that the best evidence is being aggregated

How to write up an Umbrella Review

How can University of Toledo librarians help with your umbrella review?

• Meet with you and/or members of your research team to talk about your topic and your search strategies, as well as databases and search terms that would be appropriate for your topic. [Schedule a Consult]
• For faculty, resident physicians, fellows, and staff members: a librarian can do one search in a single database and email you the results. [Request a Search]

Note: Our services are only available to current UToledo faculty, resident physicians, fellows, students, and staff members. If you are affiliated with another institution, please contact your library to see what services are available for your review.