Article type
Abstract
Background: Several guidelines have been developed to improve the reporting of evidence syntheses, such as the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) statement and its extensions. However, the independent and asynchronous nature with which these guidelines have been developed has led to important inconsistencies in their content and structure, which causes confusion and misinterpretation. Coupled with this, users often need to consult multiple guidelines, which can be burdensome, and increases the risk of incomplete reporting.
Objectives: To develop a living, unified PRISMA statement that harmonises content across PRISMA 2020 and several related extensions.
Methods: We are prioritising harmonisation of reporting guidelines for systematic reviews of the effects of health interventions. Two authors independently screened guidelines assigned to the “Systematic reviews/Meta-analyses/Reviews/HTA/Overviews” category on the EQUATOR Network library and extracted items and recommendations for each item (‘elements’) from statement papers and explanation and elaboration documents. We are currently recording which items and elements are common (i.e., identical in meaning), similar (i.e., address the same concept but include important differences) and unique across guidelines. Our coding will be sent to extension leads for review, after which we will convene virtual consensus meetings to discuss overlap in items and elements and proposals for harmonised wordings. Once finalised, we will build a web application which will generate customisable checklists that populate items and elements from relevant guidelines.
Results: We screened 78 guidelines for inclusion, of which 14 containing 453 items and 848 elements were eligible (Table 1). We have commenced work on identifying and addressing overlapping recommendations across eligible guidelines (Table 2) and will present the unified statement at the Summit.
Conclusions: We anticipate that developing a unified PRISMA statement will result in more efficient and effective translation of PRISMA reporting guidelines into practice, thereby enhancing the completeness of reporting of syntheses relied upon for healthcare decision making.
Relevance and importance to patients: We anticipate the unified PRISMA statement will result in more completely reported systematic reviews which should lead to improved clinical decision-making and ultimately better outcomes for patients.
Objectives: To develop a living, unified PRISMA statement that harmonises content across PRISMA 2020 and several related extensions.
Methods: We are prioritising harmonisation of reporting guidelines for systematic reviews of the effects of health interventions. Two authors independently screened guidelines assigned to the “Systematic reviews/Meta-analyses/Reviews/HTA/Overviews” category on the EQUATOR Network library and extracted items and recommendations for each item (‘elements’) from statement papers and explanation and elaboration documents. We are currently recording which items and elements are common (i.e., identical in meaning), similar (i.e., address the same concept but include important differences) and unique across guidelines. Our coding will be sent to extension leads for review, after which we will convene virtual consensus meetings to discuss overlap in items and elements and proposals for harmonised wordings. Once finalised, we will build a web application which will generate customisable checklists that populate items and elements from relevant guidelines.
Results: We screened 78 guidelines for inclusion, of which 14 containing 453 items and 848 elements were eligible (Table 1). We have commenced work on identifying and addressing overlapping recommendations across eligible guidelines (Table 2) and will present the unified statement at the Summit.
Conclusions: We anticipate that developing a unified PRISMA statement will result in more efficient and effective translation of PRISMA reporting guidelines into practice, thereby enhancing the completeness of reporting of syntheses relied upon for healthcare decision making.
Relevance and importance to patients: We anticipate the unified PRISMA statement will result in more completely reported systematic reviews which should lead to improved clinical decision-making and ultimately better outcomes for patients.