Skip to main content

Table 6 Audit for decision support

From: An approach to addressing subpopulation considerations in systematic reviews: the experience of reviewers supporting the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force

Audit of subgroup analysis results

(1)

List all a priori subpopulations from work plan

(2)

List all studies conducted in a subpopulation only (e.g., older adults, males, females, diabetics)

(3)

List all studies that reported

subgroup analyses for this subpopulation

(4)

List all outcomes reported for each subgroup analysis for this subpopulation

(5)

Summarize decisions regarding further investigation of subgroup analysis results

- Age

 

- Study A (n)

- Study B (n)

- Study C (n)

- Study D (n)

Outcome #1

- Study A

- Study B

Outcome #2

- Study C

- The majority of the studies (x/y) in the review reported age-related subgroup analyses. Age-related subgroup results will be abstracted in a separate table.

- Sex

- Study X (men) (n)

- Study Y (men) (n)

- Study Z (women) (n)

- Study A (n)

- Study B (n)

- Study C (n)

Outcome #1

- Study A

- Study B

Outcome #2

- Study C

- The majority of the studies (x/y) in the review were either conducted in males or females only, or some type of sex-related subgroup analysis was conducted. Sex-related subgroup results will be abstracted in a separate table.