What Systematic Reviews Exist for the Effectiveness of Orthopaedic Interventions

Area of Science:

• Orthopaedic Surgery
• Evidence-Based Medicine
• Health Services Research

Background:

• Orthopaedic procedures are common, costly, and improve quality of life.
• A comprehensive understanding of existing evidence is crucial for clinical decision-making.

Purpose of the Study:

• To quantify the number and categorize the topics of systematic overviews evaluating orthopaedic interventions.
• To assess the evidence base for therapeutic orthopaedic treatments.

Main Methods:

• Searched multiple databases (PubMed, Embase, Scopus, OrthoEvidence, Cochrane Library) from 2006 to 2017.
• Included systematic reviews of randomized controlled trials (RCTs) for therapeutic orthopaedic interventions.
• Applied strict exclusion criteria to ensure relevance and quality of included studies.

Main Results:

• Identified 719 systematic overviews from 6,864 initial abstracts.
• Surgical interventions constituted the largest category (55%), followed by medication (34%) and rehabilitation (6%).
• A substantial body of evidence exists for therapeutic orthopaedic interventions.

Conclusions:

• Numerous systematic overviews on orthopaedic interventions are available.
• The findings highlight a robust evidence base that can inform clinical practice.
• This evidence has the potential for significant public health impact due to the frequency of orthopaedic procedures.