Contents

• Comparing Medical Interventions: AHRQ and the Effective Health Care Program
  Jean Slutsky, PA, MSPH, David Atkins, MD, MPH, Stephanie Chang, MD, MPH, and Beth A Collins Sharp, PhD.
  Published: November 18, 2008.
• Principles in Developing and Applying Guidance
  Mark Helfand, MD and Howard Balshem, MS.
  Published: August 8, 2009.
  • Key Points
  • Introduction
  • Background and History
  • Principles—Developing Guidance
  • Principles—Conducting Comparative Effectiveness Reviews
  • Future Development of the Methods Guide
  • References
• Identifying, Selecting, and Refining Topics
  Evelyn P Whitlock, MD, MPH, Sarah A Lopez, BA, Stephanie Chang, MD, MPH, Mark Helfand, MD, MS, MPH, Michelle Eder, PhD, and Nicole Floyd, MPH.
  Published: April 27, 2009.
  • Key Points
  • Introduction
  • Guiding Principles for Identifying and Selecting Topics
  • Processes for Identifying and Selecting Systematic Reviews
  • Principles and Processes for Refining Selected Topics
  • Challenges
  • References
• Finding Evidence for Comparing Medical Interventions
  Rose Relevo, MLIS, MS, AHIP and Howard Balshem, MS.
  Published: January 5, 2011.
  • Key Points
  • Introduction
  • Regulatory and Clinical Trials Searching
  • Scientific Information Packets: Requests to Industry
  • Developing the Published Literature Search
  • Strategies for Finding Observational Studies
  • Specialized Database Searching
  • Using Key Articles
  • Hand Searching Journals
  • Corresponding With Researchers
  • Updating and Reporting the Search Strategy
  • Concluding Remarks
  • References
  • Appendix A Techniques for Observational Studies and/or Harms
  • Appendix B Specialized Databases
  • Appendix C CONSORT-Style Flow Diagram of Literature Search, Annotated
• Selecting Observational Studies for Comparing Medical Interventions
  Susan Norris, MD, MPH, David Atkins, MD, MPH, Wendy Bruening, PhD, Steven Fox, MD, SM, MPH, Eric Johnson, PhD, Robert Kane, MD, Sally C Morton, PhD, Mark Oremus, PhD, Maria Ospina, MSc, Gurvaneet Randhawa, MD, MPH, Karen Schoelles, MD, SM, Paul Shekelle, MD, PhD, MPH, and Meera Viswanathan, PhD.
  Published: June 14, 2010.
  • Key Points
  • Introduction
  • Decision Framework
  • Discussion
  • Conclusions
  • References
• Assessing the Risk of Bias of Individual Studies in Systematic Reviews of Health Care Interventions
  Meera Viswanathan, PhD, Mohammed T Ansari, MBBS, MMedSc, MPhil, Nancy D Berkman, PhD, Stephanie Chang, MD, MPH, Lisa Hartling, PhD, Melissa McPheeters, MPH, PhD, P Lina Santaguida, PT, PhD, Tatyana Shamliyan, MD, MS, Kavita Singh, MPH, Alexander Tsertsvadze, MD, MSc, and Jonathan R Treadwell, PhD.
  Published: March 8, 2012.
  • Key Points
  • Introduction
  • Terminology and Constructs
  • Stages in Assessing the Risk of Bias of Studies
  • Design-Specific Criteria To Assess Risk of Bias
  • Tools for Assessing Risk of Bias
  • Assessing the Risk of Bias for Harms
  • Summarizing the Risk of Bias of a Study
  • Conclusion
  • References
  • Appendix A Tools To Assess Risk of Bias of Individual Outcomes
• Assessing the Applicability of Studies When Comparing Medical Interventions
  David Atkins, MD, MPH, Stephanie Chang, MD, MPH, Gerald Gartlehner, MD, MPH, David I Buckley, MD, MPH, Evelyn P Whitlock, MD, MPH, Elise Berliner, PhD, and David Matchar, MD, FACP.
  Published: December 30, 2010.
  • Key Points
  • Introduction
  • General Guidance
  • Four Specific Steps
  • Limitations of This Approach
  • Conclusions
  • References
  • Appendix A Example Adapted from Comparative Effectiveness Review of Therapies for Clinically Localized Prostate Cancer
• Assessing Harms When Comparing Medical Interventions
  Roger Chou, MD, Naomi Aronson, PhD, David Atkins, MD, MPH, Afisi S Ismaila, Pasqualina Santaguida, PhD, David H Smith, PhD, Evelyn Whitlock, MD, MPH, Timothy J Wilt, MD, MPH, and David Moher, PhD.
  Published: November 18, 2008.
  • Key Points
  • Introduction
  • Identifying Harms to Be Evaluated
  • Terminology
  • Sources of Evidence on Harms
  • Assessing Risk of Bias (Quality) of Harms Reporting
  • Synthesizing Evidence on Harms
  • Reporting Evidence on Harms
  • Summary
  • References
• Conducting Quantitative Synthesis When Comparing Medical Interventions: AHRQ and the Effective Health Care Program
  Rongwei Fu, Gerald Gartlehner, Mark Grant, Tatyana Shamliyan, Art Sedrakyan, Timothy J Wilt, Lauren Griffith, Mark Oremus, Parminder Raina, Afisi Ismaila, Pasqualina Santaguida, Joseph Lau, and Thomas A Trikalinos.
  Published: October 25, 2010.
  • Introduction
  • Decision To Combine Studies
  • Indirect Comparisons and Consideration of Indirect Evidence
  • Choice of Effect Measures
  • Choice of Statistical Model for Combining Studies
  • Test and Explore Statistical Heterogeneity
  • Sensitivity Analyses
  • Concluding Remarks
  • References
• Grading the Strength of a Body of Evidence When Comparing Medical Interventions
  Douglas K Owens, MD, MS, Kathleen N Lohr, PhD, David Atkins, MD, MPH, Jonathan R Treadwell, PhD, James T Reston, PhD, MPH, Eric B Bass, MD, MPH, Stephanie Chang, MD, MPH, and Mark Helfand, MD.
  Published: August 5, 2009.
  • Key Points
  • Introduction
  • Strength of Evidence: Domains
  • Overall Strength-of-Evidence Grade
  • Reporting Strength of Evidence
  • Discussion
  • References
• Using Existing Systematic Reviews To Replace De Novo Processes in Conducting Comparative Effectiveness Reviews
  C Michael White, PharmD, FCP, FCCP, Stanley Ip, MD, Melissa McPheeters, PhD, MPH, Tim S Carey, MD, MPH, Roger Chou, MD, Kathleen N Lohr, PhD, Karen Robinson, PhD, Kathryn McDonald, MM, and Evelyn Whitlock, MD, MPH.
  Published: October 5, 2009.
  • Key Points
  • Introduction and Rationale
  • Locating Existing Systematic Reviews
  • Assessing the Relevance of Existing Systematic Reviews
  • Assessing the Quality of Relevant Systematic Reviews
  • Reporting Methods and Results
  • Discussion: Reiterate Justification for Using Existing Systematic Reviews
  • References
• Updating Comparative Effectiveness Reviews
  Alexander Tsertsvadze, MD, MSc, Margaret Maglione, MPP, Roger Chou, MD, Chantelle Garritty, MSc, Craig Coleman, PharmD, Linda Lux, MPA, Eric Bass, MD, MPH, Howard Balshem, MS, and David Moher, PhD.
  Published: July 27, 2011.
  • Key Points
  • Background
  • When To Update CERs
  • How To Update CERs
  • Current and Future Research Efforts
  • References