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Systematic Reviews

A guide for researchers beginning a medical systematic review or meta-analysis.

Team Members Involved

Content experts as well as the statistician may be involved in evaluating and grading the evidence from the included studies.

Appraise the Literature

Articles on Grading

  1. Ahmed, F., Temte, J. L., Campos-Outcalt, D., Schunemann, H. J., & for the ACIPEvidence Based Recommendations Work Group (EBRWG). (2011). Methods for developing evidence-based recommendations by the advisory committee on immunization practices (ACIP) of the U.S. centers for disease control and prevention (CDC). Vaccine, doi:10.1016/j.vaccine.2011.08.005
     
  2. American Academy of Pediatrics Steering Committee on Quality Improvement and Management. (2004). Classifying recommendations for clinical practice guidelines. Pediatrics, 114(3), 874-877. doi:10.1542/peds.2004-1260
     
  3. Ansari, M. T., Tsertsvadze, A., & Moher, D. (2009). Grading quality of evidence and strength of recommendations: A perspective. PLoS Medicine, 6(9), e1000151. doi:10.1371/journal.pmed.1000151
  4. Armola, R. R., Bourgault, A. M., Halm, M. A., Board, R. M., Bucher, L., Harrington, L., . . . 2008-2009 Evidence-Based Practice Resource Work Group of the American Association of Critical-Care Nurses. (2009). Upgrading the american association of critical-care nurses' evidence-leveling hierarchy. American Journal of Critical Care : An Official Publication, American Association of Critical-Care Nurses, 18(5), 405-409. doi:10.4037/ajcc2009170
  5. Atkins, D., Briss, P. A., Eccles, M., Flottorp, S., Guyatt, G. H., Harbour, R. T., . . . GRADE Working Group. (2005). Systems for grading the quality of evidence and the strength of recommendations II: Pilot study of a new system. BMC Health Services Research, 5(1), 25. doi:10.1186/1472-6963-5-25
  6. Atkins, D., Eccles, M., Flottorp, S., Guyatt, G. H., Henry, D., Hill, S., . . . GRADE Working Group. (2004). Systems for grading the quality of evidence and the strength of recommendations I: Critical appraisal of existing approaches the GRADE working group. BMC Health Services Research, 4(1), 38. doi:10.1186/1472-6963-4-38
  7. Balshem, H., Helfand, M., Schunemann, H. J., Oxman, A. D., Kunz, R., Brozek, J., . . . Guyatt, G. H. (2011). GRADE guidelines: 3. rating the quality ofevidence. Journal of Clinical Epidemiology, 64(4), 401-406. doi:10.1016/j.jclinepi.2010.07.015
  8. Brozek, J. L., Akl, E. A., Alonso-Coello, P., Lang, D., Jaeschke, R., Williams, J. W., . . . GRADE Working Group. (2009). Grading quality of evidence and strength of recommendations in clinical practice guidelines. part 1 of 3. an overview of the GRADE approach and grading quality of evidence about interventions. Allergy, 64(5), 669-677. doi:10.1111/j.1398-9995.2009.01973.x
  9. Brozek, J. L., Akl, E. A., Compalati, E., Kreis, J., Terracciano, L., Fiocchi, A., . . . GRADE Working Group. (2011). Grading quality of evidence and strength of recommendations in clinical practice guidelines part 3 of 3. the GRADE approach to developing recommendations. Allergy, 66(5), 588-595. doi:10.1111/j.1398-9995.2010.02530.x; 10.1111/j.1398-9995.2010.02530.x
  10. Canfield, S. E., & Dahm, P. (2011). Rating the quality of evidence and the strength of recommendations using GRADE. World Journal of Urology, 29(3), 311-317. doi:10.1007/s00345-011-0667-2
  11. Chong, C. A., Chen, I. J., Naglie, G., & Krahn, M. D. (2009). How well do guidelines incorporate evidence on patient preferences? Journal of General Internal Medicine, 24(8), 977-982. doi:10.1007/s11606-009-0987-8
  12. Coyne, D. W. (2007). Practice recommendations based on low, very low, and missing evidence. Clinical Journal of the American Society of Nephrology : CJASN, 2(1), 11-12. doi:10.2215/CJN.02980906
  13. Dykes, P. C. (2005). Translating evidence into practice for providers and patients. Evidence-Based Cardiovascular Medicine, 9(3), 157-159. doi:10.1016/j.ebcm.2005.06.049
  14. Ebell, M. H., Siwek, J., Weiss, B. D., Woolf, S. H., Susman, J., Ewigman, B., & Bowman, M. (2004). Strength of recommendation taxonomy (SORT): A patient-centered approach to grading evidence in the medical literature. The Journal of the American Board of Family Practice / American Board of Family Practice, 17(1), 59-67.
  15. Ebell, M. H., Siwek, J., Weiss, B. D., Woolf, S. H., Susman, J., Ewigman, B., & Bowman, M. (2004). Strength of recommendation taxonomy (SORT): A patient-centered approach to grading evidence in the medical literature. American Family Physician, 69(3), 548-556.
  16. Ebell, M. H., Siwek, J., Weiss, B. D., Woolf, S. H., Susman, J. L., Ewigman, B., & Bowman, M. (2004). Simplifying the language of evidence to improve patient care: Strength of recommendation taxonomy (SORT): A patient-centered approach to grading evidence in medical literature. The Journal of Family Practice, 53(2), 111-120.
  17. Fontanesi, J., Mendoza, S., Bowers, D., & Reznik, V. (2009). Translating operational research to the medical community: Using "guiding measurements" to improve the quality of healthcare delivery. The Journal of Medical Practice Management : MPM, 24(4), 248-253.
  18. Guyatt, G., Gutterman, D., Baumann, M. H., Addrizzo-Harris, D., Hylek, E. M., Phillips, B., . . . Schunemann, H. (2006). Grading strength of recommendations and quality of evidence in clinical guidelines: Report from an american college of chest physicians task force. Chest, 129(1), 174-181. doi:10.1378/chest.129.1.174
  19. Guyatt, G., Oxman, A. D., Akl, E. A., Kunz, R., Vist, G., Brozek, J., . . . Schunemann, H. J. (2011). GRADE guidelines: 1. introduction-GRADE evidenceprofiles and summary of findings tables. Journal of Clinical Epidemiology, 64(4), 383-394. doi:10.1016/j.jclinepi.2010.04.026
  20. Guyatt, G., Vist, G., Falck-Ytter, Y., Kunz, R., Magrini, N., & Schunemann, H. (2006). An emerging consensus on grading recommendations? Evidence-Based Medicine, 11(1), 2-4.
  21. Guyatt, G., Vist, G., Falck-Ytter, Y., Kunz, R., Magrini, N., & Schunemann, H. (2006). An emerging consensus on grading recommendations? ACP Journal Club,144(1), A8-9.
  22. Guyatt, G. H., Oxman, A. D., Kunz, R., Atkins, D., Brozek, J., Vist, G., . . . Schunemann, H. J. (2011). GRADE guidelines: 2. framing the question and deciding on important outcomes. Journal of Clinical Epidemiology, 64(4), 395-400. doi:10.1016/j.jclinepi.2010.09.012
  23. Guyatt, G. H., Oxman, A. D., Schunemann, H. J., Tugwell, P., & Knottnerus, A. (2011). GRADE guidelines: A new series of articles in the journal of clinical epidemiology. Journal of Clinical Epidemiology, 64(4), 380-382. doi:10.1016/j.jclinepi.2010.09.011
  24. Guyatt, G. H., Oxman, A. D., Vist, G. E., Kunz, R., Falck-Ytter, Y., Alonso-Coello, P., . . . GRADE Working Group. (2008). GRADE: An emerging consensus on rating quality of evidence and strength of recommendations. BMJ (Clinical Research Ed.), 336(7650), 924-926. doi:10.1136/bmj.39489.470347.AD
  25. Harbour, R., & Miller, J. (2001). A new system for grading recommendations inevidence based guidelines. BMJ (Clinical Research Ed.), 323(7308), 334-336.
  26. Harris, C., Turner, T., Mazza, D., Wilkinson, F., & Health for Kids Guideline Development Groups. (2008). Guideline development process for the health for kids in the south east project. Australian Family Physician, 37(6 Spec No), 2-5.
  27. Hasenfeld, R., & Shekelle, P. G. (2003). Is the methodological quality of guidelines declining in the US? comparison of the quality of US agency for health care policy and research (AHCPR) guidelines with those published subsequently. Quality & Safety in Health Care, 12(6), 428-434.
  28. Horlocker, T. T., Neal, J. M., & Rathmell, J. P. (2011). Practice advisories by the american society of regional anesthesia and pain medicine: Grading theevidence and making the grade. Regional Anesthesia and Pain Medicine, 36(1), 1-3. doi:10.1097/AAP.0b013e318203083b
  29. Hsu, J., Brozek, J. L., Terracciano, L., Kreis, J., Compalati, E., Stein, A. T., . . . Schunemann, H. J. (2011). Application of GRADE: Making evidence-based recommendations about diagnostic tests in clinical practice guidelines. Implementation Science : IS, 6(1), 62. doi:10.1186/1748-5908-6-62
  30. Jaouen, R. (2010). The ugly side of practice guidelines. Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery, 125(6), 1848-9; author reply 1849-50. doi:10.1097/PRS.0b013e3181d45bc0
  31. Kaiser, K., Martini, P., Miksch, S., & Ozturk, A. (2007). A meta schema forevidence information in clinical practice guidelines as a basis for decision-making. Studies in Health Technology and Informatics, 129(Pt 2), 925-929.
  32. Kavanagh, B. P. (2009). The GRADE system for rating clinical guidelines. PLoS Medicine, 6(9), e1000094. doi:10.1371/journal.pmed.1000094
  33. Keeley, P. (2004). Making the GRADE. Palliative Medicine, 18(8), 675-676.
  34. Ketola, E., Kaila, M., & Honkanen, M. (2007). Guidelines in context ofevidence. Quality & Safety in Health Care, 16(4), 308-312. doi:10.1136/qshc.2006.019752
  35. Khan, A. R., Khan, S., Zimmerman, V., Baddour, L. M., & Tleyjeh, I. M. (2010). Quality and strength of evidence of the infectious diseases society of america clinical practice guidelines. Clinical Infectious Diseases : An Official Publication of the Infectious Diseases Society of America, 51(10), 1147-1156. doi:10.1086/656735
  36. Kingston, M. E., Krumberger, J. M., & Peruzzi, W. T. (2000). Enhancing outcomes: Guidelines, standards, and protocols. AACN Clinical Issues, 11(3), 363-374.
  37. Knottnerus, J. A., & Tugwell, P. (2011). Standards, guidelines, and norms.<i style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small; line-heig