Article type
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Abstract
Background: It is routine practice when developing clinical guidelines for NICE to look for relevant Cochrane reviews. The NHS funds NICE and makes a substantial contribution to the funding of the Cochrane Collaboration. We wanted to see how many reviews have been used.
Objectives: To collect citation rates for Cochrane reviews in NICE clinical guidelines and map cited reviews to guideline questions.
Methods: We used free text searching for the word 'Cochrane’ in all NICE clinical guidelines published before March 2011 to identify citations of Cochrane reviews. We examined the use of the review as for background only or as a source of evidence for the guideline development group. We have also mapped, where possible, the questions addressed in NICE clinical guidelines, and are cross referencing this with the reviews cited.
Results: NICE had published 116 clinical guidelines by the end of February 2011. Ten have been replaced by more up to date guidelines, leaving 106 guidelines. There were 731 citations of Cochrane reviews in the guidelines, ranging from 0 to 44 with a mean of almost 7. We judged that 23 of the citations were used purely as background information. 46 of the currently registered CRGs had reviews cited. We will also suggest how our mapping exercise can be used to identify where Cochrane reviews could have been better used, and as a source of information for CRGs when prioritising reviews.
Conclusions: Cochrane reviews are widely cited in NICE clinical guidelines, emphasising the very important role of the reviews in helping to inform guideline recommendations.
Objectives: To collect citation rates for Cochrane reviews in NICE clinical guidelines and map cited reviews to guideline questions.
Methods: We used free text searching for the word 'Cochrane’ in all NICE clinical guidelines published before March 2011 to identify citations of Cochrane reviews. We examined the use of the review as for background only or as a source of evidence for the guideline development group. We have also mapped, where possible, the questions addressed in NICE clinical guidelines, and are cross referencing this with the reviews cited.
Results: NICE had published 116 clinical guidelines by the end of February 2011. Ten have been replaced by more up to date guidelines, leaving 106 guidelines. There were 731 citations of Cochrane reviews in the guidelines, ranging from 0 to 44 with a mean of almost 7. We judged that 23 of the citations were used purely as background information. 46 of the currently registered CRGs had reviews cited. We will also suggest how our mapping exercise can be used to identify where Cochrane reviews could have been better used, and as a source of information for CRGs when prioritising reviews.
Conclusions: Cochrane reviews are widely cited in NICE clinical guidelines, emphasising the very important role of the reviews in helping to inform guideline recommendations.