Evidence-based medicine is the cornerstone of shared-decision making in healthcare today.
The public deserves clear, transparent and trust-worthy information on drug efficacy. Yet …

Background Assessing the risk of bias in individual studies in a systematic review can be
done using individual components or by summarizing the study quality in an overall score …

Rationale and aim Over the past 12 years, thousands of authors working with the Cochrane
Collaboration around the world have produced systematic reviews to reduce uncertainty in …

One of the common criticisms made of The Cochrane Collaboration is that most of its
reviews don't end with clear instructions for action by professionals, patients and …

Using the best quality of clinical research evidence is essential for choosing the right
treatment for patients. How to identify the best research evidence is, however, difficult. In this …

Planning for the 'Summary of findings' table starts early in the systematic review, with the
selection of the outcomes to be included in: the review; and the 'Summary of findings' table …

Objective To estimate the proportion of healthcare interventions tested within Cochrane
Reviews that are effective according to high-quality evidence. Methods We selected a …

The objective of systematic reviews of the efficacy and safety of interventions is to determine
in an unbiased and objective manner whether a proper balance between risks and benefits …

Background The global evidence base for health care is extensive, and expanding; with
nearly 2 million articles published annually. One estimate suggests 75 trials and 11 …

Introduction: High-quality randomised controlled trials (RCTs) provide the most reliable
evidence on the comparative efficacy of new medicines. However, non-randomised studies …