Related Experiment Video
Updated: Jun 25, 2026

Application of the Intelligent High-Throughput Antimicrobial Sensitivity Testing/Phage Screening System and Lar Index of Antimicrobial Resistance
Published on: July 21, 2023
AMSTAR is a reliable and valid measurement tool to assess the methodological quality of systematic reviews
Beverley J Shea1, Candyce Hamel, George A Wells
1Community Information and Epidemiological Technologies (CIET), Institute of Population Health, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. bshea@ciet.org
Objective:
Our purpose was to measure the agreement, reliability, construct validity, and feasibility of a measurement tool to assess systematic reviews (AMSTAR).
Study Design And Setting:
We randomly selected 30 systematic reviews from a database. Each was assessed by two reviewers using: (1) the enhanced quality assessment questionnaire (Overview of Quality Assessment Questionnaire [OQAQ]); (2) Sacks' instrument; and (3) our newly developed measurement tool (AMSTAR). We report on reliability (interobserver kappas of the 11 AMSTAR items), intraclass correlation coefficients (ICCs) of the sum scores, construct validity (ICCs of the sum scores of AMSTAR compared with those of other instruments), and completion times.
Results:
The interrater agreement of the individual items of AMSTAR was substantial with a mean kappa of 0.70 (95% confidence interval [CI]: 0.57, 0.83) (range: 0.38-1.0). Kappas recorded for the other instruments were 0.63 (95% CI: 0.38, 0.78) for enhanced OQAQ and 0.40 (95% CI: 0.29, 0.50) for the Sacks' instrument. The ICC of the total score for AMSTAR was 0.84 (95% CI: 0.65, 0.92) compared with 0.91 (95% CI: 0.82, 0.96) for OQAQ and 0.86 (95% CI: 0.71, 0.94) for the Sacks' instrument. AMSTAR proved easy to apply, each review taking about 15 minutes to complete.
Conclusions:
AMSTAR has good agreement, reliability, construct validity, and feasibility. These findings need confirmation by a broader range of assessors and a more diverse range of reviews.
Related Concept Videos
Statistical Analysis: Overview
One of the most commonly used statistical quantifiers is the mean, which is the ratio between the sum of the numerical values of all results and the...
Data Validation
Key parameters for method validation include:
Pulse amplitude and quality
A weak or absent pulse may indicate reduced cardiac output or poor left ventricular contraction, which can be signs of cardiovascular dysfunction or...
Statistical Methods to Analyze Parametric Data: ANOVA
One-way ANOVA is applied when a single independent variable or factor is scrutinized. It compares the...
Quality Assurance
Types of Biopharmaceutical Studies: Controlled and Non-Controlled Approaches
Non-controlled studies, commonly employed for initial exploration, lack a control group, rendering them susceptible to biases and external influences. In contrast, controlled...