A systematic review
is a literature review focused on a research question that tries to identify,
appraise, select and synthesize all high quality research evidence relevant to
that question. Systematic reviews of high-quality randomized controlled trials
are crucial to evidence-based medicine. An understanding of systematic reviews
and how to implement them in practice is becoming mandatory for all
professionals involved in the delivery of health care. Besides health
interventions, systematic reviews may concern clinical tests, public health
interventions, social interventions, adverse effects, and economic evaluations.
Systematic reviews are not limited to medicine and are quite common in other
sciences where data are collected, published in the literature, and an
assessment of methodological quality for a precisely defined subject would be
ever-increasing plethora of studies being published in the health sciences, it
is challenging if not impossible for busy clinicians and researchers alike to
keep up with the literature. Reviews summarizing the outcomes of various
intervention trials are therefore an extremely efficient method for obtaining
the “bottom line” about what works and what doesn’t. In his review we cover the
basic principles of Systemic review and meta-analysis. The important issues
that needs to consider while doing systematic reviews and meta-analysis are
outlined and some of the terms used in the reporting of systematic reviews and
meta-analysis such as odds ratio, relative risk, confidence interval and forest
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