31st International Summer School of Epidemiology

 

COURSE 2: INTRODUCTION TO SYSTEMATIC REVIEW AND META-ANALYSIS OF OBSERVATIONAL DATA

Blanca Iciar Indave Ruiz
Dietrich Rothenbacher

This course will provide an introduction to the conduct of systematic reviews and meta-analysis with a special focus on methods for observational data synthesis. We will introduce the concept of evidence-based medicine, evidence levels and the evolution of evidence synthesis in the last 30 years. The course will describe the different types of reviews and help to understand the systematic review process, as well as its possible variations. We will help to understand the steps involved in the performance of such a research work: formulation and framing of an adequate research question, definition of eligibility criteria, search and identification of relevant studies, data extraction and validity and risk of bias assessment of included studies, as well as synthesis and reporting of results. We will present tools to assist each of these stages, as well as recommendations on how to disseminate and update results of a systematic review based on the example of the Evidence-based Pathology project of IARC. Participants will further learn how to perform a quantitative analysis of results, how to present and interpret them. Choice of models (fixed-effect or random effects) and approaches to quantify heterogeneity will be discussed. The generation and interpretation of forest plots including methods to assess the potential of bias (e. g. by means of funnel plots) will also be considered. In addition, we will look at several tools and software that can help to critically evaluate and conduct a meta-analysis.