McGill University, Montreal, Quebec, Canada.
PLoS One. 2012;7(7):e42479. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0042479. Epub 2012 Jul 27.
Systematic reviews are increasingly informing policies in tuberculosis (TB) care and control. They may also be a source of questions for future research. As part of the process of developing the International Roadmap for TB Research, we did a systematic review of published systematic reviews on TB, to identify research priorities that are most frequently suggested in reviews.
METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: We searched EMBASE, MEDLINE, Web of Science, and the Cochrane Library for systematic reviews and meta-analyses on any aspect of TB published between 2005 and 2010. One reviewer extracted data and a second reviewer independently extracted data from a random subset of included studies. In total, 137 systematic reviews, with 141 research questions, were included in this review. We used the UK Health Research Classification System (HRCS) to help us classify the research questions and priorities. The three most common research topics were in the area of detection, screening and diagnosis of TB (32.6%), development and evaluation of treatments and therapeutic interventions (23.4%), and TB aetiology and risk factors (19.9%). The research priorities determined were mainly focused on the discovery and evaluation of bacteriological TB tests and drug-resistant TB tests and immunological tests. Other important topics of future research were genetic susceptibility linked to TB and disease determinants attributed to HIV/TB. Evaluation of drug treatments for TB, drug-resistant TB and HIV/TB were also frequently proposed research topics.
Systematic reviews are a good source of key research priorities. Findings from our survey have informed the development of the International Roadmap for TB Research by the TB Research Movement.
系统评价越来越多地为结核病（TB）护理和控制政策提供信息。它们也可能成为未来研究的问题来源。作为制定国际结核病研究路线图的一部分，我们对发表于 2005 年至 2010 年期间的结核病系统评价进行了系统评价，以确定在评价中最常提出的研究重点。
方法/主要发现：我们在 EMBASE、MEDLINE、Web of Science 和 Cochrane 图书馆中搜索了关于 TB 任何方面的系统评价和荟萃分析，这些评价和荟萃分析发表于 2005 年至 2010 年期间。一位评审员提取数据，另一位评审员从纳入研究的随机子集中独立提取数据。共有 137 篇系统评价，包含 141 个研究问题，纳入了本次综述。我们使用英国健康研究分类系统（HRCS）来帮助我们对研究问题和重点进行分类。最常见的三个研究主题是 TB 的检测、筛查和诊断领域（32.6%）、治疗和治疗干预的开发和评估（23.4%）以及 TB 的病因和危险因素（19.9%）。确定的研究重点主要集中在发现和评估细菌学 TB 检测和耐药性 TB 检测以及免疫学检测。未来研究的其他重要主题是与 TB 相关的遗传易感性和与 HIV/TB 相关的疾病决定因素。TB、耐药性 TB 和 HIV/TB 的药物治疗评估也是经常提出的研究课题。
系统评价是确定关键研究重点的良好来源。我们的调查结果为结核病研究运动制定国际结核病研究路线图提供了信息。
