• Media type: E-Article
  • Title: Current methods for development of rapid reviews about diagnostic tests: an international survey
  • Contributor: Arevalo-Rodriguez, Ingrid; Steingart, Karen R.; Tricco, Andrea C.; Nussbaumer-Streit, Barbara; Kaunelis, David; Alonso-Coello, Pablo; Baxter, Susan; Bossuyt, Patrick M.; Emparanza, José Ignacio; Zamora, Javier
  • imprint: Springer Science and Business Media LLC, 2020
  • Published in: BMC Medical Research Methodology
  • Language: English
  • DOI: 10.1186/s12874-020-01004-z
  • ISSN: 1471-2288
  • Origination:
  • Footnote:
  • Description: <jats:title>Abstract</jats:title><jats:sec> <jats:title>Background</jats:title> <jats:p>Rapid reviews (RRs) have emerged as an efficient alternative to time-consuming systematic reviews—they can help meet the demand for accelerated evidence synthesis to inform decision-making in healthcare. The synthesis of diagnostic evidence has important methodological challenges. Here, we performed an international survey to identify the current practice of producing RRs for diagnostic tests.</jats:p> </jats:sec><jats:sec> <jats:title>Methods</jats:title> <jats:p>We developed and administered an online survey inviting institutions that perform RRs of diagnostic tests from all over the world.</jats:p> </jats:sec><jats:sec> <jats:title>Results</jats:title> <jats:p>All participants (<jats:italic>N</jats:italic> = 25) reported the implementation of one or more methods to define the scope of the RR; however, only one strategy (defining a structured question) was used by ≥90% of participants. All participants used at least one methodological shortcut including the use of a previous review as a starting point (92%) and the use of limits on the search (96%). Parallelization and automation of review tasks were not extensively used (48 and 20%, respectively).</jats:p> </jats:sec><jats:sec> <jats:title>Conclusion</jats:title> <jats:p>Our survey indicates a greater use of shortcuts and limits for conducting diagnostic test RRs versus the results of a recent scoping review analyzing published RRs. Several shortcuts are used without knowing how their implementation affects the results of the evidence synthesis in the setting of diagnostic test reviews. Thus, a structured evaluation of the challenges and implications of the adoption of these RR methods is warranted.</jats:p> </jats:sec>
  • Access State: Open Access