The overview reporting map: a visual tool for overviews of systematic reviews

Area of Science:

• Evidence synthesis and knowledge translation.
• Health services research and systematic review methodology.

Background:

• Overviews of Cochrane Systematic Reviews (CSRs) present challenges in effectively reporting synthesized evidence.
• Existing methods may not adequately capture the complexity of multiple intervention effects and evidence certainty.

Purpose of the Study:

• To introduce the Overview Reporting Map (ORMap), a novel structured and visual approach for summarizing results from CSR overviews.
• To address the difficulties in reporting and interpreting information from large-scale evidence syntheses.

Main Methods:

• ORMap was developed iteratively, incorporating feedback from editors, reviewers, and the World Health Organization (WHO).
• The tool was applied in two WHO projects, focusing on rehabilitation and COVID-19 evidence.
• Refinement involved input from review authors, methodologists, and knowledge translation experts.

Main Results:

• ORMap uses a mapping format to present intervention effects and evidence certainty (Grading of Recommendations, Assessment, Development, and Evaluations system).
• It visually displays interventions with color-coded cells, enabling rapid identification of key findings and evidence levels.
• The tool offers a high-level overview, linking to detailed information and proving adaptable for clinical end-users.

Conclusions:

• ORMap offers a structured and accessible method for summarizing evidence from systematic review overviews.
• It enhances the actionability of complex evidence, potentially improving integration into clinical practice.
• Further investigation is warranted to evaluate ORMap's impact on clinical decision-making and user experience.