How can we make reporting of systematic reviews more valuable for users?

Bastian H.

Introduction: The aim of the Cochrane Collaboration is "to help people make well-informed decisions about health care" by producing and promoting systematic reviews. The organisation's guidelines on producing reviews concentrate largely on assembling and interpreting evidence. There are also extensive debates in the organisation about how to make evidence from reviews more easy for people to apply in their own circumstances. In what other ways, though, can we make reporting of systematic reviews more useful to people making decisions about health care? This presentation will focus on what information people need to be able to "make well-informed decisions", and ways in which the information in reviews can be made easier to use. The starting points for considering these issues in this presentation are: existing guidelines on informed decision making in health; guides to critical reading of randomised trials; guidelines for the production of quality consumer health information; and a previous analysis of the content of Cochrane reviews. A number of areas in reporting of reviews will be highlighted: specific topics critical to decision making that are often poorly reported or neglected (such as adverse effects, costs, and practical considerations); the impact of the way information is framed; improving usability when reviews of interventions are split into several separate reviews; and ways to improve the presentation of reviews for users.
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Rome 1999 O44