Table 3 Results for newborn and child health systematic review protocols
Proportion (%) of “Yes” responses for the total (no.) of reviews eligible for scoring | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Type of review | Intervention/exposure group | ||||||||
Itema number | Item | Overall (N = 76) | Cochrane (N = 50) | Non-Cochrane (N = 26) | p value | Children only (N = 41) | Children and adults (N = 24) | Family and maternal (N = 11) | p value |
Title | |||||||||
1) | Identify the protocol as a systematic review, meta-analysis, or both for pediatric population as a focus of review, if applicable | 72.4 (76) | 88.5 (50) | 64 (26) | 0.015* | 92.7 (41) | 29.2 (24) | 90.9 (11) | p < 0.01* |
Support | |||||||||
5a) | Indicate sources of financial or other support for the review | ||||||||
5b) | Provide name for the review funder and/or sponsor | ||||||||
5c) | Describe roles of funder(s), sponsor(s), and/or institution(s), if any, in developing the protocol | ||||||||
5d) | For each included trial in a systematic review, indicate (a plan to include) the source of financial support (such as government, academia, or industry), if any, in the trial(s) | 13.2 (76) | 30.8 (50) | 4 (26) | 0.010* | 19.5 (41) | 8.3 (24) | 0 (11) | 0.178 |
Introduction | |||||||||
Rationale | |||||||||
6) | Describe the rationale for the review in the context of what is already known | ||||||||
6a) | In the contexts of the synthesized evidence in adults or other pediatric groups (non-targeted), explain the rationale for synthesizing evidence for the targeted pediatric age group(s). Provide hypotheses that relate to the targeted pediatric age group(s) | 1.3 (76) | 0 (50) | 2 (26) | 0.321 | 2.4 (41) | 0 (24) | 0 (11) | 0.682 |
Objectives | |||||||||
7) | Provide an explicit statement of questions the review will address with reference to targeted pediatric age groups, interventions, comparisons, outcomes, and study design (PICOS). | 0 (76) | 0 (50) | 0 (26) | p > 0.999 | 0 (41) | 0 (24) | 0 (11) | p > 0.999 |
Methods | |||||||||
Eligibility criteria | |||||||||
8) | Specify the study characteristics (such as PICO, study design, setting, time frame) and report characteristics (such as years considered, language, publication status) to be used as criteria for eligibility for the review | ||||||||
8a) | Justify the targeted pediatric age group(s) selected. | 64.5 (76) | 84.6 (50) | 54 (26) | p < 0.01* | 78 (41) | 45.8 (24) | 54.5 (11) | 0.022* |
8b) | Intervention: Justify the intervention for the targeted pediatric age group(s) addressing potential age-related differences in intervention effects | 55.3 (76) | 76.9 (50) | 44 (26) | p < 0.01* | 61 (41) | 37.5 (24) | 72.7 (11) | 0.075* |
8c) | Provide rationale for extrapolation or adaptation of adult intervention, if any | 16.7 (18) | 20 (13) | 15.4 (5) | 0.826 | 33.3 (6) | 9.1 (11) | 0 (1) | 0.410 |
8d) | Comparators: Explain the choice of comparator(s) and, if applicable, evidence for the active comparator and/or standard of care for targeted pediatric age group(s) | 17.1 (76) | 26.9 (50) | 12 (26) | 0.142 | 26.8 (41) | 8.3 (24) | 0 (11) | 0.050 |
8e) | Outcomes: List and define all the primary outcomes addressed for the targeted pediatric age group(s). List and define growth and development outcomes and adverse outcomes (events), if applicable | 55.3 (76) | 80.8 (50) | 42 (26) | p < 0.01* | 78 (41) | 12.5 (24) | 63.6 (11) | p < 0.01* |
8f) | Outcomes: Explain the clinical relevance of the selected outcomes (benefits and harms) for the targeted pediatric age group(s) | 28.9 (76) | 23.1 (50) | 32 (26) | 0.405 | 26.8 (41) | 29.2 (24) | 36.4 (11) | 0.797 |
8g) | Outcomes: Explain the validity, feasibility, and responsiveness of the outcome measures for the pre-targeted pediatric age group(s) | 0 (76) | 0 (50) | 0 (26) | p > 0.999 | 0 (41) | 0 (24) | 0 (11) | p > 0.999 |
Search strategy | |||||||||
10) | Present draft of search strategy to be used for at least one electronic database, including planned limits, such that it could be repeated | ||||||||
10a) | Describe the search strategy and terms (including database specific MeSH terms for pediatric population) used to address the targeted pediatric age group(s) | 48.7 (76) | 53.8 (50) | 46 (26) | 0.520 | 58.5 (41) | 25 (24) | 63.6 (11) | 0.017* |
Data synthesis | |||||||||
15b) | If data are appropriate for quantitative synthesis, describe planned summary measures, methods of handling data and methods of combining data from studies, including any planned exploration of consistency (such as I2, Kendall’sτ) | ||||||||
15b) | For studies that included pediatrics and adults without a subgroup analysis of the pediatric population, describe how the data on targeted pediatric age group(s) were used in the analysis | 0 (27) | 0 (21) | 0 (6) | p > 0.999 | 0 (0) | 0 (24) | 0 (3) | p > 0.999 |
Additional analyses | |||||||||
15c) | Describe methods of additional analyses (e.g., sensitivity or subgroup analyses for targeted pediatric age group(s), meta-regression), if done, indicating which were pre-specified | 61 (59) | 58.3 (35) | 62.9 (24) | 0.730 | 53.3 (30) | 68.4 (19) | 70 (10) | 0.454 |