Article type
Year
Abstract
Background: Prognostic information is important for health decision-makers for providing information on the likelihood of a particular outcome or disease recurrence, identifying target groups for treatment, or suggesting intervention strategies to modify factors associated with poor outcomes. Three Cochrane Prognosis ‘Exemplar’ Reviews are currently being completed to assess their feasibility and provide examples of these innovative types of systematic reviews.
Objectives: This presentation reports on the methods and processes for a prognostic factor review investigating the available evidence about the association of one prognostic factor, individual recovery expectations, with the outcome of low back pain. Individual recovery expectations are what a patient ‘expects to occur’ with respect to their health condition, in this case low back pain, over time. This topic was selected as an exemplar because it has a significant public health burden, is easily understood, and includes challenging methodological aspects ideal for illustrating the hows and whys of conducting a systematic review of prognostic factors.
Methods: We are using the current standards of best methods, adapted from intervention and diagnostic test accuracy systematic reviews. Methodological testing is being conducted in two important steps of the review, the literature search and ‘Risk of bias’ assessment. Guidance documents, including an annotated review, will help inform evidence-based methods for future clinically relevant prognostic factor systematic reviews.
Results: Eighty-six studies are included in this review. At the Colloquium, we will present a summary of the methods used in this prognostic review and discuss our results. We will focus on presenting preliminary findings from our methodological investigations and discussing important methodological challenges that arise when conducting prognostic factor reviews.
Conclusions: This study will serve as a model for future prognostic factor reviews. Methodological testing from this exemplar review will inform literature search strategies and ‘Risk of bias’ assessments in future reviews.
Objectives: This presentation reports on the methods and processes for a prognostic factor review investigating the available evidence about the association of one prognostic factor, individual recovery expectations, with the outcome of low back pain. Individual recovery expectations are what a patient ‘expects to occur’ with respect to their health condition, in this case low back pain, over time. This topic was selected as an exemplar because it has a significant public health burden, is easily understood, and includes challenging methodological aspects ideal for illustrating the hows and whys of conducting a systematic review of prognostic factors.
Methods: We are using the current standards of best methods, adapted from intervention and diagnostic test accuracy systematic reviews. Methodological testing is being conducted in two important steps of the review, the literature search and ‘Risk of bias’ assessment. Guidance documents, including an annotated review, will help inform evidence-based methods for future clinically relevant prognostic factor systematic reviews.
Results: Eighty-six studies are included in this review. At the Colloquium, we will present a summary of the methods used in this prognostic review and discuss our results. We will focus on presenting preliminary findings from our methodological investigations and discussing important methodological challenges that arise when conducting prognostic factor reviews.
Conclusions: This study will serve as a model for future prognostic factor reviews. Methodological testing from this exemplar review will inform literature search strategies and ‘Risk of bias’ assessments in future reviews.