Graduate Program in Dentistry, Meriodional College/IMED, Passo Fundo, Brazil.
Graduate Program in Dentistry, Federal University of Pelotas (UFPEL), Pelotas, RS, Brazil.
J Evid Based Med. 2021 Feb;14(1):56-64. doi: 10.1111/jebm.12426. Epub 2021 Feb 17.
This study aimed to assess the characteristics of different designs of systematic reviews (SRs) registered in the International Prospective Register of Systematic Reviews (PROSPERO) about COVID-19.
The search was performed in the PROSPERO database using the strategy proposed by the database and considered only human studies. The last date of the search was April 27, 2020. Full text of all records was accessed, and data were extracted by a single researcher, which was further double-checked by another researcher. A descriptive analysis was performed considering record characteristics using tables.
We included 564 records from which the vast majority were registered as SRs (n = 513, 91%). In general, we found poor reporting and missing or confusing information, since 84% of the records (n = 474) did not report the full search that would be adopted, 16% (n = 90) did not report clearly the databases that would be used, and 49.1% (n = 277) did not report the number of primary outcomes. The main focus of most of the records involved clinical, epidemiological, complication, and laboratory characteristics (n = 173, 30.7%) or the treatment of COVID-19 (n = 138, 24.5%).
A large number of SRs about COVID-19 have been conducted, and many of the assessed records were poorly reported and would be difficult to replicate. Besides, collected data points to an epidemic of redundant reviews on COVID-19.
本研究旨在评估在国际前瞻性系统评价注册库（PROSPERO）中 COVID-19 相关系统评价（SR）不同设计的特征。
采用 PROSPERO 数据库提出的策略在数据库中进行检索，仅考虑人类研究。检索的最后日期为 2020 年 4 月 27 日。查阅了所有记录的全文，并由一名研究人员提取数据，另一名研究人员进一步进行了双重检查。使用表格对记录特征进行描述性分析。
我们纳入了 564 条记录，其中绝大多数为 SR（n=513，91%）。总体而言，我们发现报告质量较差，存在缺失或混淆的信息，因为 84%（n=474）的记录未报告将采用的完整检索，16%（n=90）未清楚报告将使用的数据库，49.1%（n=277）未报告主要结局的数量。大多数记录的主要关注点是临床、流行病学、并发症和实验室特征（n=173，30.7%）或 COVID-19 的治疗（n=138，24.5%）。
针对 COVID-19 开展了大量的 SR，但许多评估记录的报告质量较差，难以复制。此外，收集的数据表明 COVID-19 存在大量冗余的综述。
