Clinical systematic reviews – a brief overview

Abstract

Abstract Objective Systematic reviews answer research questions through a defined methodology. It is a complex task and multiple articles need to be referred to acquire wide range of required knowledge to conduct a systematic review. The aim of this article is to bring the process into a single paper. Method The statistical concepts and sequence of steps to conduct a systematic review or a meta-analysis are examined by authors. Results The process of conducting a clinical systematic review is described in seven manageable steps in this article. Each step is explained with examples to understand the method evidently. Conclusion A complex process of conducting a systematic review is presented simply in a single article.

Keywords

• Sytematic review
• Meta-analysis
• Effect measure
• Heterogeneity
• Risk of bias
• Certainty of evidence