New tools and concepts for the integration of randomised and non-randomised studies in systematic reviews

Article type
Year
Authors
Cuello C1, Schunemann H2, Santesso N3, Brozek J4, Morgan R5
1McMaster University - Department of Clinical Epidemiology and Biostatistics
2McMaster University
3Cochrane GRADEing, McMaster University
4Cochrane GRADEing, Cochrane Airways
5McMaster University, Hamilton, Canada
Abstract
Objectives: To discuss the rationale, perceptions and methods used to integrate randomized and non-randomized studies in evidence syntheses of interventions

Description: Randomized studies (RS) are considered the ideal individual source of research evidence. Non-randomized studies (NRS) of interventions evaluating benefits and harms are critical to many areas of evaluation, yet they are commonly disregarded or separated from RS, and considered less certain due to confounding and bias, even if they evaluate the same populations, interventions, and outcomes. With the development of new tools for evaluating the risk of bias in NRS (i.e. Risk Of Bias In Non-randomised Studies of interventions (ROBINS-i)) and the increasing use of the Grading of Recommendations Assessment, Development and Evaluation (GRADE) approach to assess the overall certainty in the estimates, more opportunities to integrate NRS with RS are feasible and desirable.

The purpose of this workshop is to discuss the use of these new tools (ROBINS-i and GRADE) with current recommendations on the integration of NRS and RS in systematic reviews.

This is a hands-on workshop with real simplified examples to practice and discuss the integration of RS with NRS in health syntheses using GRADE criteria and 'Summary of findings' tables. We recommend that attendees will have a medium to advanced background in systematic reviews and GRADE methods.
Bringing your own laptop/tablet is desirable, but not compulsory.