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Enhanced access to recommendations from the Cochrane Handbook for improving authors' judgments about risk of bias: A

Ognjen Barcot1, Matej Ivanda1, Ivan Buljan2

  • 1Department of Abdominal Surgery, University Hospital Split, Split, Croatia.

Research Synthesis Methods
|May 29, 2021
PubMed

Insights

Enhanced access to Cochrane Handbook recommendations improved risk of bias (RoB) judgments in a randomized controlled trial. This intervention led to more adequate RoB assessments, suggesting software integration potential.

Area of Science:

  • Medical Research Methodology
  • Evidence-Based Medicine
  • Systematic Reviews

Background:

  • Accurate risk of bias (RoB) assessment is crucial for evaluating evidence quality in systematic reviews.
  • The 2011 Cochrane risk of bias tool requires careful application for reliable judgments.
  • Existing methods for accessing guidance on RoB assessment may have limitations.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To evaluate the effectiveness of enhanced access to Cochrane Handbook recommendations for improving RoB judgments.
  • To determine if providing specific Handbook tables alongside scenarios enhances RoB assessment adequacy.
  • To compare RoB judgment accuracy between authors with enhanced versus general access to the Handbook.

Main Methods:

  • A parallel-group randomized controlled trial (RCT) with 1:1 allocation was conducted.
  • Participants (corresponding authors of Cochrane reviews) assessed 20 RoB scenarios.
  • The intervention group received enhanced access to Handbook recommendations; the control group received a general link.

Main Results:

  • The intervention group showed a significantly higher proportion of adequate RoB judgments compared to the control group (76.2% vs. 69.0%).
  • Specifically, the frequency of adequate RoB judgments was 7.1% higher in the intervention group.
  • While no participant judged all scenarios perfectly, the enhanced access group performed better within domains.

Conclusions:

  • Enhanced access to Cochrane Handbook recommendations improves the adequacy of risk of bias judgments.
  • This intervention strategy could be integrated into software tools to support RoB assessment.
  • Improving RoB judgment accuracy enhances the reliability of systematic reviews and evidence synthesis.

Keywords:
CochraneRoB toolrisk of biassystematic reviews

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