Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses in Tuberculosis
41st Conference on Lung Health, Berlin (November 2010)
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Course Description Systematic reviews and meta-analyses are critical for evidence-based clinical and public health practice. They are a central component of policy and guideline development, especially with the widespread adoption of the GRADE system by WHO and other agencies. The widespread application of systematic reviews to synthesise evidence on key questions makes it useful for health professionals to be able to understand and critique this design. This one-day course will provide an introductory overview of systematic reviews and meta-analyses, with specific examples from TB and HIV. Relation to Conference Theme Evidence-based TB and HIV care is central to improved control of the TB and HIV epidemics. Several agencies, including WHO and ATS, have endorsed the GRADE approach to guideline and policy development. The GRADE approach requires the use of systematic reviews and meta-analyses. This course provides an introduction to systematic reviews, their strengths and limitations. Target Audience TB and HIV researchers, policy-makers, guideline development committee members, clinicians, nurses and librarians. Objectives To provide an introductory overview of the systematic review process, discuss the strengths and limitations of the method, and provide limited guidance on how to actually perform a systematic review; To describe key components of a systematic review: formulation of the review question, searching of literature, quality assessment of studies, data extraction, and meta-analytic methods, methods to evaluate heterogeneity and publication bias and software options. |