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Volume
7: No. 6, November 2010
SYSTEMATIC REVIEW
Quality of Systematic Reviews of Observational Nontherapeutic Studies
This flow chart shows 3 boxes. The top box reads
Total references � 1,053
- Medline via PubMed � 904
- Related publications � 14
- WorldCat � 2
- Scirus � 28
- Manual search — 70
- Guidelines, textbooks, consensus statements — 23
- Published by the authors — 11
- Cochrane Library � 1
It is connected by a vertical line to 2 additional boxes. The left box
reads
Included studies � 397
- Systematic reviews for the present article � 145
- Tools (scales and checklists) � 96
- Working groups � 13
- Methodologic studies about bias in observational research � 143
The right box reads
Excluded studies � 656
- Ethical guidelines � 3
- Reviews � 23
- Centers for Disease Control and Prevention study � 4
- Related to interventions � 209
- Related to diagnostic studies � 54
- Not relevant to research questions � 363
Figure. Study flow to identify systematic reviews
of observational studies, scales and checklists for planned, formal internal quality
evaluation, and studies about bias in observational research.
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