Table 1.
Characteristics of Summaries of Systematic Reviews
| Name | Produced by | Subject and/or Geographical Focus | Product Description | Methods Described | Features |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cochrane-Related Resources | |||||
| Evidence Update | Effective Health Care Research Consortium, led by the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine, UK | Health care interventions relevant to people in low- and middle-income countries | Two-page summaries of Cochrane reviews | No | 1 |
| Health Knowledge Network bulletins | Centre for Health Communication and Participation, Latrobe University, Australia | Evidence-based strategies for consumers’ and caregivers’ engagement in health | Five-to-eight-page bulletin summarizing findings of a single Cochrane review | Yes | 1 |
| Policy Liaison Initiative | Policy Liaison Initiative (a collaboration between the Australian government's Department of Health and Ageing and the Australasian Cochrane Centre) | N/A (range of topics/interventions covered) | Brief summaries of Cochrane reviews | No | 1 |
| Other Systematic Review Producers’ Resources | |||||
| Database of Abstracts of Reviews of Effects (DARE) | CRD, University of York, UK | Effectiveness of interventions | Database of critical abstracts of quality-assessed systematic reviews | Yes | 1, 2, 3 |
| Health-evidence.ca | McMaster University, Canada | Public health and health promotion | Database of health promotion and public health systematic reviews | Yes | 1, 2 |
| Rx for Change | CADTH (Canadian Agency for Drugs and Technologies in Health) | Interventions to improve drug prescribing and use | Summaries of individual reviews plus brief overviews by type of intervention | Yes | 1 (for topic areas), 2 |
| Effective Health Care Program Policymaker summaries | Effective Health Care Program (AHRQ); existing summaries prepared by John M. Eisenberg Center and Oregon Health and Science University, USA | Comparative effectiveness research in USA | Four-page “summary for clinicians and policymakers” | No | 1, 7 |
| “Alert report” summaries | SBU (Swedish Council on Health Technology Assessment) | Swedish HTA reports | Short (one- or two-page) summary with extensive reference list | Yes | 1, 7 (sometimes), 8 (sometimes) |
| Community Guide | U.S. Task Force on Community Preventive Services with support from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention | Interventions to promote health and/or prevent disease in community settings; USA | Web-based summary of systematic review findings and task force's recommendations relating to a specific intervention | No | 1 |
| WHO-Related Resources | |||||
| Reproductive Health Library | Department of Reproductive Health and Research, World Health Organization | Sexual and reproductive health, especially in developing countries | A combination of IMRAD-style commentaries summarizing Cochrane reviews and DARE abstracts for non-Cochrane reviews | Yes (instructions for commentary) | 1, 2, 4, 5 (for Cochrane) |
| Health Evidence Network (HEN) evidence summaries of network members’ reports | HEN, part of WHO Europe | Health policy in Europe | Summaries of systematic review reports produced by HEN-member organizations | No | 1, 4 |
Notes: 1 =“bottom line” summary of key points; 2 = evaluation of methodological quality; 3 = evaluation of reliability of conclusions; 4 = evaluation of generalizability of results; 5 = expert commentary (by independent subject experts); 6 = includes other types of research evidence alongside systematic reviews; 7 = addresses local context for implementation or decision making; 8 = produced in response to decision makers’ requests.