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Viewing medical evidence through a new PRISMA

March 29th, 2021

In a new open-access Guidelines & Guidance paper published in PLOS Medicine, Matthew Page of Monash University, Melbourne, Australia and co-authors present PRISMA 2020, an updated version of the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic reviews and Meta-Analyses reporting checklist. The new guideline paper is also being published in the British Medical Journal, Journal of Clinical Epidemiology, Systematic Reviews and International Journal of Surgery.

Systematic reviews allow researchers to search for and analyse all the available evidence on a specific medical research question, which could involve evidence on different treatments for a particular disease studied in randomized controlled trials, for example, or data on risk factors or disease characteristics obtained from observational studies. Meta-analyses of these data aim to provide the most accurate information on treatment benefits and side-effects, for instance.

PRISMA, first published in 2009, encourages researchers to describe key elements of their review according to an evidence-based checklist—published alongside a research paper, this provides readers with clear access to information on study methods and findings. PRISMA 2020 includes a 27-item reporting checklist that has been updated to reflect methodological and other developments that have occurred in the decade since the original PRISMA statement was released. As an example, one new item encourages researchers to describe whether study data, analytic code and other research materials are publicly available, and where these can be found. The authors say: "Incompletely reported systematic reviews can lead to low-value healthcare. We hope to combat this with PRISMA 2020, which aims to help authors prepare transparent, complete and accurate accounts of the next generation of systematic reviews". Submissions to PLOS Medicine will be expected to be accompanied by a completed checklist for the most appropriate reporting guideline, including PRISMA 2020 for reports of systematic reviews and meta-analyses.

More information:
Matthew J. Page et al, The PRISMA 2020 statement: An updated guideline for reporting systematic reviews, PLOS Medicine (2021). DOI: 10.1371/journal.pmed.1003583

Provided by Public Library of Science

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