Chen, Y-F.‏‎, Hemming, Karla, Chilton, Peter J., Gupta, Keshav K., Altman, Douglas G. and Lilford, Richard (2014) Scientific hypotheses can be tested by comparing the effects of one treatment over many diseases in a systematic review. Journal of Clinical Epidemiology, Volume 67 (Number 12). pp. 1309-1319. doi:10.1016/j.jclinepi.2014.08.007

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Abstract

Objectives:
To describe the use of systematic reviews or overviews (systematic reviews of systematic reviews) to synthesize quantitative evidence of intervention effects across multiple indications (multiple-indication reviews) and to highlight issues pertaining to such reviews.

Study Design and Setting:
MEDLINE was searched from 2003 to January 2014. We selected multiple-indication reviews of interventions of allopathic medicine that included evidence from randomized controlled trials. We categorized the subject areas evaluated by these reviews and examined their methodology. Utilities and caveats of multiple-indication reviews are illustrated with examples drawn from published literature.

Results:
We retrieved 52 multiple-indication reviews covering a wide range of interventions. The method has been used to detect unintended effects, improve precision by pooling results across indications, and examine scientific hypotheses across disease classes.

Conclusion:
Systematic reviews of interventions are typically used to evaluate the effects of treatments, one indication at a time. Here, we argue that, with due attention to methodological caveats, much can be learned by comparing the effects of a given treatment across many related indications.

Item Type:	Journal Article
Subjects:	R Medicine > RC Internal medicine
Divisions:	Faculty of Medicine > Warwick Medical School > Health Sciences Faculty of Medicine > Warwick Medical School > Health Sciences > Population, Evidence & Technologies (PET) Faculty of Medicine > Warwick Medical School
Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH):	Clinical medicine
Journal or Publication Title:	Journal of Clinical Epidemiology
Publisher:	Elsevier Inc.
ISSN:	0895-4356
Official Date:	December 2014
Dates:	Date Event December 2014 Published 1 October 2014 Available 1 August 2014 Accepted
Volume:	Volume 67
Number:	Number 12
Number of Pages:	11
Page Range:	pp. 1309-1319
DOI:	10.1016/j.jclinepi.2014.08.007
Status:	Peer Reviewed
Publication Status:	Published
Access rights to Published version:	Open Access
Funder:	National Institute for Health Research (Great Britain) (NIHR), Collaborations for Leadership in Applied Health Research and Care (CLAHRC), Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC), Medical Research Council (Great Britain) (MRC), Cancer Research UK (CRUK), National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (Great Britain)‏
Grant number:	GR/S29874/01 (EPSRC)

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