Referees provide feedback to reviewers on the content and design of their Protocols and reviews. An experiment to compare the effects of two or more healthcare interventions. FMAG’s remit was to advise on policies and procedures for managing comments and criticisms of Cochrane Reviews. The difference in size of risk between two groups. For example, if in a sample of 100, 20 people died and 80 people survived the odds of death are 20/80 = ¼, 0.25 or 1:4. In most trials one intervention is assigned to each individual but sometimes assignment is to defined groups of individuals (for example, in a household) or interventions are assigned within individuals (for example, in different orders or to different parts of the body). A sub-group of the Information Management System Group (IMSG), which advises on development of RevMan. If the Ombudsmen are unable to resolve an issue, it can be referred to the CCSG. A group of individuals being studied because they are conveniently accessible in some way. These include symptoms such as dry mouth, tiredness, etc, that can affect a person’s quality of life and willingness to continue the treatment. This type of study is usually carried out in circumstances where no interaction is likely. We assessed the risk of bias in the included studies. A trial that aims to test a treatment policy in a 'real life' situation, when many people may not receive all of the treatment, and may use other treatments as well. See the Cochrane Handbook for Systematic Reviews of Interventions (formerly the Cochrane Reviewers’ Handbook.). the effect of age, sex, and educational level on the prevalence of a disease. Unlike variables, parameters do not relate to actual measurements or attributes of patients. Center for Disease ControlCenter for Disease Control and PreventionCentre The plot also allows readers to see the heterogeneity among the results of the studies. A form of regression analysis that models an individual's odds of disease or some other outcome as a function of a risk factor or intervention. A systematically developed statement for practitioners and participants about appropriate health care for specific clinical circumstances. In a contingency table, it is one less than the number of row categories multiplied by one less than the number of column categories; e.g. Sometimes confusingly referred to as RefMan (see RevMan). Validity has several other meanings, usually accompanied by a qualifying word or phrase; for example, in the context of measurement, expressions such as ‘construct validity’, ‘content validity’ and ‘criterion validity’ are used. The speed or frequency of occurrence of an event, usually expressed with respect to time. The (natural) log of the odds ratio. The terms single blind, double blind and triple blind are in common use, but are not used consistently and so are ambiguous unless the specific people who are blinded are listed. A method used to ensure that equal numbers of participants with a characteristic thought to affect prognosis or response to the intervention will be allocated to each comparison group. The CCSG also has legal responsibility as the Board of Directors for The Cochrane Collaboration as a registered charity. This bias is a threat to the validity of retrospective studies. Cochrane shall use reasonable endeavours to make the Website and Materials available to Authorized Users at all times and on a twenty-four hour basis, save for routine maintenance (which shall be notified to the Authorized User and/or Subscriber in advance wherever possible), and to restore access to the Website and Materials as soon as possible in the event of an interruption or suspension of the service. In such studies, care should be taken to avoid unit of analysis errors. An international organisation that aims to help people make well-informed decisions about health care by preparing, maintaining, and ensuring the accessibility of systematic reviews of the effects of healthcare interventions. A horizontal line runs through each square to show each study’s confidence interval - usually, but not always, a 95% confidence interval. The process of randomly allocating participants into one of the arms of a controlled trial. For example, if participants know they are in the control group, they may be more likely to use other forms of care. This design is particularly useful where the outcome is rare and past exposure can be reliably measured. older people), the type of provider (e.g. Cochrane warrants that CIL does not infringe the copyright or any other proprietary or intellectual property rights of any person. Used in RevMan analyses to test the statistical significance of the heterogeneity statistic. In studies of the effects of health care, the main types of bias arise from systematic differences in the groups that are compared (selection bias), the care that is provided, exposure to other factors apart from the intervention of interest (performance bias), withdrawals or exclusions of people entered into a study (attrition bias) or how outcomes are assessed (detection bias). [In trial searching:] The proportion of relevant articles identified by a search strategy expressed as a percentage of all articles (relevant and irrelevant) identified by that strategy. For instance, if the estimated effect of a treatment for acne was small but statistically significant, but the treatment was very expensive, and caused many of the treated patients to feel nauseous, this would not be a clinically significant result. The value of the observation that comes half way when the observations are ranked in order. Note: for further information, see Lewis S, Clarke M. Forest plots: trying to see the wood and the trees. If you are an Authorized User, your Cochrane Account will give you access to the full range of learning modules on the Website. Sub-group analyses are also subject to the multiple comparisons problem. A result that is unlikely to have happened by chance. Because subjects are not allocated by the investigator to different interventions or other exposures, adjusted analysis is usually required to minimise the influence of other factors (confounders). The weight given to the difference in means from each study (e.g. A collection of regularly updated online databases containing the Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews, the Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials, the Database of Abstracts of Reviews of Effects, the Cochrane Methodology Register, the HTA Database, NHSEED, and information about The Cochrane Collaboration. Centre for Disease Control. We have suspended the supply of the products for technical or other reasons, or we notify you that we are going to suspend them for such reasons, in each case for a period of more than 30 days. A research design that collects observations at multiple time points before and after an intervention (interruption). The conditions and circumstances that are relevant to the application of an intervention, for example the setting (in hospital, at home, in the air); the time (working day, holiday, night-time); type of practice (primary, secondary, tertiary care; private practice, insurance practice, charity); whether routine or emergency. In meta-analysis, dose-response relationships can be investigated using meta-regression. They report to the CCSG every six months giving details of their activity during the period, but not identifying specific details if, in the opinion of the Ombudsmen, there is a need for these details to remain confidential.