SFOK18007U Systematic Reviews and Meta-analysis – a practical course

Volume 2018/2019
Education

MSc in Public Health Science - elective course

MSc in Health Informatics - elective course

MSc in Global Health - elective course

MSc in Human Biology - elective course

MSc in Health Science- elective course

Content

This elective course has a practical approach to the systematic review method and the meta-analysis tools. The systematic review method will include building a relevant search model, chosing the right databases for the topic, chosing in- and exclusion criterias, inclusion of studies, data extraction, and risk of bias assessment. The course will also have an analytic part where the students will learn to perform meta-analyses in STATA, including stratified analyses and eta-regressions. The goal for this study is to provide the students with enough experience to conduct a basic systematic review and meta-analysis, possibly as their master thesis.

Learning Outcome

After completed course, students are expected to be able to:

Knowledge

  • Explain how a literature search search can be made wider and how to make it more specific, by using search terms and Boolean operators.

  • Explain the differences between the biggest electronic databases and their content (Medline, Embase, Central and Clinicaltrials.gov).

  • Describe main characteristics for the most common quantitative study designs: case studies, case-control studies, cross sectional studies, cohort studies, randomized controlled trials, systematic reviews and meta-analyses.

  • Discuss the methodological quality of included studies, including risk of different types of bias.

  • Describe central epidemiological elements; odds ratios, relative risks, risk differences, means, medians, standard deviations, quantiles, and confidence intervals.

  • Describe the grounds for conducting different types of meta-analyses.

  • Describe relevant terms including heterogeneity, regression types and different types of meta-analyses.

Skills

  • Conduct a protocol for a systematic review and a meta-analysis that meets the requirements of PROSPERO.

  • Build a PICO model with relevant search terms.

  • Identify relevant studies in title/abstract and full text.

  • Use relevant methodological checklists on the included studies.

  • Identify and extract relevant information and results.

  • Choose a relevant statistical approach and the right types of analysis.

  • Illustrate results from risk of bias assessment and the analyses.

  • Discuss and use information on risk of bias, heterogeneity and precision.

  • Present the results and conclusion in a Summary of Findings (SoF) table by using the GRADE Approach.

Competences

  • Plan and perform a systematic literature search to identify most relevant literature according to the search question.

  • Evaluate methodological quality of the included studies, using relevant checklists.

  • Extract relevant results and information and use these in a meta-analysis.

  • Use stratified analyses and meta-regressions to explain heterogeneity in the results.

  • Make a statement on the estimate and the underlying evidence using a SoF table.

Literature will be uploaded to Absalon, along with relevant reading guides.

Higgins, J, og S Green. “Cochrane Handbook for Systematic Reviews of Interventions”, 2011. http:/​/​handbook.cochrane.org/​.

Kirkwood, Betty R., Jonathan A. C. Sterne, og Betty R. Kirkwood. Essential medical statistics. 2nd ed. Malden, Mass: Blackwell Science, 2003.

Borenstein, Michael, red. Introduction to meta-analysis. Chichester, U.K: John Wiley & Sons, 2009.

Software:

STATA Statistical Software will be used throughout the course. STATA software can be installed by SUND-IT on CSS room 2.01.02.

Epidemiology on a level that equals the course ’introduktion til epidemiologi’ and statistic knowledge on a level that equals the course ”introduktion til statistik”.
Lectures and group work including student presentation and plenum discussion of the assignments.
  • Category
  • Hours
  • Exam
  • 6
  • Lectures
  • 20
  • Preparation
  • 96
  • Project work
  • 16
  • Total
  • 138
Continuous feedback during the course of the semester

Discussion and class activities will provide ongoing feedback about students understanding of the metods.

Credit
5 ECTS
Type of assessment
Portfolio
The exam will be a portfolio task, with smaller course assignments building up to a final ”paper” where the included tasks should be summarized.
Aid
All aids allowed
Marking scale
passed/not passed
Censorship form
No external censorship
One internal examiner
Exam period

Please see the exam schedule at KUnet 

Re-exam

Please see the exam schedule at KUnet 

The exam form in the re-examination may differ from the ordinary exam. Should this happen, students registered for the re-examination will be informed as soon as possible.

Criteria for exam assesment

To achieve the grade Passed, the student must adequately be able to:

Knowledge

  • The student should be able to explain how a literature search search can be made wider and how to make it more specific.

  • The student should be able to explain the differences between the biggest electronic databases and their content (Medline, Embase, Central and Clinicaltrials.gov).

  • The student should be able to describe main characteristics for the most common quantitative study designs: case studies, case-control studies, cross sectional studies, cohort studies, randomized controlled trials, systematic reviews and meta-analyses.

  • The student should be able to discuss the methodological quality of included studies, including risk of different types of bias.

  • The student should be able to describe central epidemiological elements; odds ratios, relative risks, risk differences, means, medians, standard deviations, quantiles, and confidence intervals.

  • The student should be able to describe the grounds for conducting different types of meta-analyses.

  • The student should be able to describe relevant terms including heterogeneity, regression types and different types of meta-analyses.

 

Skills

  • The student should be able to conduct a protocol for a systematic review and a meta-analysis that meets the requirements of PROSPERO.

  • The student should be able to build a PICO model with relevant search terms.

  • The student should be able to identify relevant studies in title/abstract and full text.

  • The student should be able to use relevant methodological checklists on the included studies.

  • The student should be able to identify and extract relevant information and results.

  • The student should be able to choose a relevant statistical approach and the right types of analysis.

  • The student should be able to illustrate results from risk of bias assessment and the analyses.

  • The student should be able to discuss and use information on risk of bias, heterogeneity and precision.

  • The student should be able to present the results and conclusion in a Summary of Findings (SoF) table by using the GRADE Approach.

 

Competences

  • The student should be able to plan and perform a systematic literature search to identify most relevant literature according to the search question.

  • The student should be able to evaluate methodological quality of the included studies, using relevant checklists.

  • The student should be able to extract relevant results and information and use these in a meta-analysis.

  • The student should be able to use stratified analyses and meta-regressions to explain heterogeneity in the results.

  • The student should be able to make a statement on the estimate and the underlying evidence using a SoF table.