The OKIS
systematic review will bring together the results
of all the previous research on the benefits and any harms from using orthotic
devices for knee instability in adults with neuromuscular disease. This will
tell us what is currently known about the usefulness of the devices. In
previous posts, Rocio described search terms and where to search how she went about
identifying all the existing studies. In this post I describe what we’re doing
with what she found.
Rocio’s
searches of a wide range of databases gave us 4233 references to potentially
relevant studies. She put these references
into a reference manager program called ‘Endnote’. Alison, Joanne and I sifted
through the references to determine which were obviously irrelevant from the
information given and which needed to be read as full papers to determine their
relevance. To ensure nothing was missed, two of us looked at every reference
independently. As a result we identified 485 papers that we need to read in
full.
The
next job is to evaluate each of the 485 studies against our predetermined review
inclusion criteria for participants, interventions, outcomes and study designs
as mentioned in a previous post. We will document our
decision to include or exclude each study with a reason. Again, two of us will
do this and where there is disagreement on the relevance of a study we will
discuss it and either arrive at a consensus or seek advice from a third member
of the project team. This process of study selection is one of the aspects that
makes a review systematic and ensures transparency.
It
is too early to say how many studies will ultimately be included in the OKIS
review. The above process is time-consuming, but as systematic reviewers we
have to be patient! We’ll have our results soon enough!
Blogger:
Debra Fayter
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