Skip to main content

Table 1 General comparison of rapid review versus systematic review approaches a

From: Evidence summaries: the evolution of a rapid review approach

 

Rapid review

Systematic review

Timeframe b

≤ 5 weeks

6 months to 2 years

Question

Question specified a priori (may include broad PICOS)

Often a focused clinical question (focused PICOS)

Sources and searches

Sources may be limited but sources/strategies made explicit

Comprehensive sources searched and explicit strategies

Selection

Criterion-based; uniformly applied

Criterion-based

Appraisal

Rigorous; critical appraisal (SRs only)

Rigorous; critical appraisal

Synthesis

Descriptive summary/categorization of the data

Qualitative summary +/- meta-analysis

Inferences

Limited/cautious interpretation of the findings

Evidence-based

  1. aSpecific to the KTA program - other groups have experimented with other approaches of rapid review and will therefore have other differences; bPrimary difference; other potentially important differences are noted in the cells. PICOS = population, interventions, comparators, outcomes and study designs; SR = systematic review.