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Table 2 Epidemiological characteristics of a random sample of 150 SRs registered in PROSPERO between April 1, 2017 and September 30, 2017

From: Registration of systematic reviews in PROSPERO: 30,000 records and counting

Characteristic

Frequency (%)

Focus of SR

 Therapeutic

78 (52%)

 Epidemiologic

47 (31%)

 Diagnostic

7 (5%)

 Prognostic

4 (3%)

 Other

14 (9%)

Health area addressed (ICD-10 chapter)

 Diseases of the circulatory system

16 (11%)

 Mental and behavioural disorders

16 (11%)

 Diseases of the musculoskeletal system and connective tissue

15 (10%)

 Factors influencing health status and contact with health services

12 (8%)

 Symptoms, signs and abnormal clinical and laboratory findings, not elsewhere classified

11 (7%)

 Certain infectious and parasitic diseases

10 (7%)

 Neoplasms

10 (7%)

 Diseases of the digestive system

9 (6%)

 Diseases of the genitourinary system

8 (5%)

 Endocrine, nutritional and metabolic diseases

8 (5%)

 Diseases of the respiratory system

7 (5%)

 Diseases of the nervous system

6 (4%)

 Pregnancy, childbirth and the puerperium

6 (4%)

 Injury, poisoning and certain other consequences of external causes

4 (3%)

 Certain conditions originating in the perinatal period

3 (2%)

 Congenital malformations, deformations and chromosomal abnormalities

3 (2%)

 Diseases of the blood and blood-forming organs and certain disorders involving the immune mechanism

3 (2%)

 Diseases of the skin and subcutaneous tissue

3 (2%)

 Diseases of the eye and adnexa

0 (0%)

 Diseases of the ear and mastoid process

0 (0%)

 External causes of morbidity and mortality

0 (0%)

Country of corresponding author

 England

27 (18%)

 Australia

21 (14%)

 China

17 (11%)

 Brazil

16 (11%)

 USA

16 (11%)

 Canada

12 (8%)

 Other (fewer than 5 reviews per country, including Argentina, Bangladesh, Belgium, Denmark, Ethiopia, France, Germany, Greece, Hong Kong, Hungary, India, Iran, Ireland, Italy, Japan, New Zealand, Norway, Scotland, Spain, Sweden Switzerland, The Netherlands)

41 (27%)

Funding of SR

 Non-profit

66 (44%)

 For-profit

0 (0%)

 Authors specified there was no funding

84 (56%)

  1. ICD-10 International Classification of Diseases, Tenth Revision, SR systematic review