Objectives: The aim of this presentation is to present an early career researcher’s experience of conducting an overview of the existing systematic review evidence for the diagnostic test accuracy of brief cognitive assessments used to identify dementia in primary care.
Description: systematic reviews of existing health evidence such as those conducted by Cochrane are recognised as the international 'gold standard' for high quality trusted information. As more systematic reviews are produced, there is a growing need to summarise and appraise the systematic review evidence in order to filter the information overload and give decision makers the best information available.
However, whilst guidance on conducting an ‘Overviews of reviews’ is covered in Chapter 22 of the Cochrane Handbook for Systematic Reviews of Interventions (version 5.1.0), there is no published Cochrane guidance for authors conducting overviews of reviews of diagnostic test accuracy.
In this presentation, the author will discuss:
- What is the purpose of conducting an overview of systematic reviews?
- How do Cochrane and non-Cochrane reviews differ, and should they be treated differently?
- What parallels and contrasts exist between accuracy and non-accuracy reviews?
- How should an author handle a change in review perspective (e.g. primary care focus when reviewing general setting reviews)?
- What would a good overview of systematic reviews of diagnostic test accuracy look like?
The author aims to situate the evidence for overviews of systematic reviews of diagnostic test accuracy, and prompt discussion of issues raised.