Summary
Introduction
Systematic reviews and meta-analyses provide a comprehensive summary of research studies
and are used to assess clinical evidence, form policy and construct guidelines. This
is pertinent to childhood surgery with issues of consent and condition prevalence.
The aims of this study were to evaluate the methodological and reporting quality of
these reviews and to identify how these reviews might guide clinical practice amongst
those conditions most commonly encountered and managed by practicing paediatric urologists.
Methods
A systematic search of the English literature was performed to identify systematic
reviews and meta-analyses focusing on clinical paediatric urology (1/1/1992-1/12/2018)
to include common paediatric urological conditions managed by paediatric urology residents/fellows.
To these reviews, Assessing the Methodological Quality of Systematic Reviews (AMSTAR)-2
and Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) scores
were applied. Univariate linear regression and descriptive statistical methods were
performed.
Results
From an initial literature review of 1723 articles, 227 were included in the analysis.
Inter-reviewer agreement was high amongst 3 independent reviewers (κ = 0.92). Eighty-four
percent of systematic reviews and meta-analyses were published since 2009 following
publication of the PRISMA guidelines. The overall impact factor was 3.38 (0.83–17.58),
with adherence to AMSTAR-2 criteria 48.46% and PRISMA criteria 70.1%. From a methodological
perspective, 15% of reviews were of moderate quality, 65% were of low quality and
20% reviews were of critically low quality, with none found to have good quality reporting.
Conclusions
Graphical AbstractMethodological quality of existing paediatric urology peer-reviewed literature based
on average AMSTAR-2 ratings of manuscripts
Keywords
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Article info
Publication history
Published online: December 07, 2019
Accepted:
December 3,
2019
Received:
July 23,
2019
Identification
Copyright
© 2019 Journal of Pediatric Urology Company. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
