Methodological Quality Assessment of Meta-analysis Studies in the Field of Non-pharmacological Intervention for Dementia in Korea

Abstract Objectives To evaluate the diagnostic performance of frozen section in thyroid nodules classified as follicular neoplasm. Methods A diagnostic test meta-analysis was designed. Studies that assessed frozen section in patients with thyroid nodules and a fine-needle aspiration biopsy result of Bethesda IV were selected. The outcomes measured were the number of false- and true-positive and -negative results. We used the Quality Assessment of Diagnostic Accuracy Studies 2 (QUADAS-2) instrument for methodological quality assessment and a bivariate mixed-effects regression framework and a likelihood-based estimation of the exact binomial approach. Results Forty-six studies from 1991 to 2018 were included. Most studies had moderate methodological quality. The overall sensitivity and specificity were 43% (95% confidence internal [CI], 0.34-0.53) and 100% (95% CI, 0.99-1.00), respectively. The hierarchic summary receiver operating characteristic curve showed an area under the curve of 0.91 (95% CI, 0.80-0.97). Conclusions Frozen section demonstrates moderate diagnostic performance in patients with follicular neoplasm, and its utility for making intraoperative decisions is limited. Its routine use should be discouraged.

Download Full-text

Overview of biomedical and public health reviews in Ethiopia from 1970 to 2018: trends, methodological qualities, gaps and future directions

10.1101/405555 ◽

2018 ◽

Author(s):

Tesfa Dejenie Habtewold ◽

Sisay Mulugeta Alemu ◽

Shimels Hussien Mohammed ◽

Aklilu Endalamaw ◽

Mohammed Akibu Mohammed ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Public Health ◽

Quality Assessment ◽

Systematic Reviews ◽

Methodological Quality ◽

Meta Analysis ◽

Publication Rate ◽

Assessment Tools ◽

Cochrane Library ◽

List Type ◽

Future Directions

AbstractIntroductionGlobally, there has been a dramatic increment of narrative reviews, systematic reviews and overview publication rates. In Ethiopia, only small number of reviews are published and no overviews conducted in biomedical and public health disciplines. Therefore, we aimed to (1) assess the trend of narrative and systematic reviews in Ethiopia, (2) examine their methodological quality and (3) suggest future directions for improvement.MethodsPubMed, EMBASE, Web of Science, SCOPUS, CINHAL, WHO Global Index Medicus, Cochrane Library and PsycINFO electronic databases were searched and supplemented by hand searching as well. All narrative reviews and systematic reviews with or without a meta-analysis from 1970 to April 2018 were included. The International Narrative Systematic assessment (INSA) for narrative reviews and A MeaSurement Tool to Assess Systematic Reviews (AMSTAR-2) for systematic reviews with or without a meta-analysis were used for quality appraisal. Fisher’s exact test at the p-value threshold of 0.05 was used to compare the differences in methodological quality.ResultsOf the 2,201 initially identified articles, 106 articles published from 1970 to 2018 were eligible for full-text review. Among included reviews, 50.9% were narrative reviews, 16% were systematic reviews and 33.1% were systematic reviews with meta-analyses. Twenty-nine percent were published in Ethiopia and 43.4% were published after 2015. 85.1% of narrative reviews poorly described the characteristics of included studies and 63.8% did not report a conflict of interest. In systematic reviews, 89.6%, 91.7%, and 100% did not register/publish the protocol, justifying the selection of the study designs for inclusion and report sources of funding for the primary studies respectively. Overall, 55.3% of narrative reviews and 75% of systematic reviews with or without meta-analysis had poor methodological quality.ConclusionsAlthough publication rate of narrative and systematic reviews have risen in Ethiopia, half of the narrative reviews and three-quarters of the systematic reviews had poor methodological quality. We recommend authors to strictly follow standardized quality assessment tools during conducting reviews. Moreover, immediate interventions such as providing methodological training and employers, editors and peer-reviewers should carefully evaluate all reviews before submission or publication.What is new?Key findingsThe publication rate of narrative and systematic reviews have risen in Ethiopia.Almost half of narrative reviews and three-fourths of systematic reviews with or without meta-analysis had poor scientific methodological quality.What this adds to what is knownTo our knowledge, this is the first overview of its kind providing insight into the publication trend of narrative and systematic reviews, and their methodological rigor in Ethiopia.What is the implication, what should change nowOur review shows that the methodological quality of reviews in biomedical and public health discipline in Ethiopia is substantially low and urges immediate intervention.We recommended authors to strictly follow standardized quality assessment tools during designing, conducting and reporting (systematic)reviews.

Download Full-text