How to build evidence network of interventional studies?

Article type
Authors
Li L1, Sun T2, Han D3, Tian J4, Yang K4
1Evidence Based Medicine Center of Lanzhou University, School of Basic Medical Science of Lanzhou University, Lanzhou 730000, China; The first Clinical Medical College of Lanzhou University, Lanzhou 730000, China
2Shanghai Institute of Digestive Disease, Shanghai Jiao-Tong University School of Medicine Ren-ji Hospital, Shanghai 200001, China
3The second Clinical Medical College of Lanzhou University, Lanzhou 730000, China
4Evidence Based Medicine Center of Lanzhou University, School of Basic Medical Science of Lanzhou University, Lanzhou 730000, China
Abstract
Background: It is difficult for health users to keep abreast of or to assimilate readily all published information, as new evidence from clinical researches are accumulating at an inconceivable rate.

Objectives: To raise a new evidence network of interventional studies to help health users make decisions.

Methods: We included all kinds of study designs about one condition (disease), including overview of review, network meta-analysis, systematic review/meta-analysis, randomization controlled trials, cohort studies, case-control studies, and etc, to build evidence network using evidence mapping methods. The steps included search, classification, appraisal, syntheses, and recommendation. Finally, this evidence network was implanted to an internet web.

Results: For interventional studies, the basic elements of evidence networks are the condition and the intervention. One condition was associated with several interventions, and one intervention was also related to several conditions. Systematic reviews/meta-analyses (direct comparisons), network meta-analyses (indirect comparisons) or overview of review were conducted to rank all the interventions. The best evidence for health users could be recommended after appraisal the quality of these studies and evidence. Linking to the intervention in the internet-based evidence network was the disease being treated and linking to the disease was all the treatments in the network.

Conclusions: Evidence network of interventional studies could be bulit.Our idea was just a early starting point, and if these ideas could be conducted in the every aspects of clinical practice (etiological, diagnostic, interventional, prognostic studies), clinicians would have easy access to information, to ensure optimal care.