Improving the Search Strategy of Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analysis
Dear Editor-in-Chief; International Journal of Community Based Nursing and Midwifery The International Journal of Community Based Nursing and Midwifery published an article entitled: “Health related quality of life in Iranian elderly citizens: A systematic review and meta-analysis” in its volume 5,...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Shiraz University of Medical Sciences
2017-10-01
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| Series: | International Journal of Community Based Nursing and Midwifery |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://ijcbnm.sums.ac.ir/index.php/ijcbnm/article/view/939/185 |
| _version_ | 1818677111726014464 |
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| author | Sougand Tourani Aidin Aryankhesal Masoud Behzadifar |
| author_facet | Sougand Tourani Aidin Aryankhesal Masoud Behzadifar |
| author_sort | Sougand Tourani |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Dear Editor-in-Chief; International Journal of Community Based Nursing and Midwifery
The International Journal of Community Based Nursing and Midwifery published an article entitled: “Health related quality of life in Iranian elderly citizens: A systematic review and meta-analysis” in its volume 5, issue 2.1 Thanks to the authors of this paper, we decided to point out some of our concerns about the paper. As you know, searching and finding relevant studies and pooling their data as a meta-analysis are very technical and time-consuming tasks.2 Then for a systematic review, it is vital to include all necessary and related databases. However, the current study did not include ISI Web of Science (WoS). Our examination shows that at least three key articles which all used SF-36 questionnaire for the elderly were not retrieved through the authors’ electronic database searching, including Abbasimoghadam,3 Farhadi4 and Rakhshani.5 This can be due to either exclusion of WoS or rather insensitive search strategy. Altogether, due to the lack of a comprehensive data searching and missing certain key papers in the systematic review, the result of the meta-analysis could be questionable.
From our perspective, another shortcoming in the review is the way the result of meta-analysis is reported. The analysis reports just a pooled mean for SF-36 score, neglecting the mean score for each of the eight SF-36 domains. Sure, otherwise, the meta-analysis would be more informative and allow the authorities to make better policies and decisions based on the results. Therefore, with respect to the authors for their notice to the issue of the elderly people in Iran, we think that based on the above-mentioned concerns, possibly, the results are not a precise estimation of Iranian elderly’s health related quality of life. |
| first_indexed | 2024-12-17T08:54:11Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-9fc5604172dc4c708c542ff31c3538cd |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2322-2476 2322-4835 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-12-17T08:54:11Z |
| publishDate | 2017-10-01 |
| publisher | Shiraz University of Medical Sciences |
| record_format | Article |
| series | International Journal of Community Based Nursing and Midwifery |
| spelling | doaj.art-9fc5604172dc4c708c542ff31c3538cd2022-12-21T21:56:00ZengShiraz University of Medical SciencesInternational Journal of Community Based Nursing and Midwifery2322-24762322-48352017-10-0154417418Improving the Search Strategy of Systematic Reviews and Meta-AnalysisSougand Tourani0Aidin Aryankhesal1Masoud Behzadifar2Department of Health Services Management, School of Health Management and Information Sciences, Iran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, IranDepartment of Health Services Management, School of Health Management and Information Sciences, Iran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, IranHealth Management and Economics Research Center, Iran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, IranDear Editor-in-Chief; International Journal of Community Based Nursing and Midwifery The International Journal of Community Based Nursing and Midwifery published an article entitled: “Health related quality of life in Iranian elderly citizens: A systematic review and meta-analysis” in its volume 5, issue 2.1 Thanks to the authors of this paper, we decided to point out some of our concerns about the paper. As you know, searching and finding relevant studies and pooling their data as a meta-analysis are very technical and time-consuming tasks.2 Then for a systematic review, it is vital to include all necessary and related databases. However, the current study did not include ISI Web of Science (WoS). Our examination shows that at least three key articles which all used SF-36 questionnaire for the elderly were not retrieved through the authors’ electronic database searching, including Abbasimoghadam,3 Farhadi4 and Rakhshani.5 This can be due to either exclusion of WoS or rather insensitive search strategy. Altogether, due to the lack of a comprehensive data searching and missing certain key papers in the systematic review, the result of the meta-analysis could be questionable. From our perspective, another shortcoming in the review is the way the result of meta-analysis is reported. The analysis reports just a pooled mean for SF-36 score, neglecting the mean score for each of the eight SF-36 domains. Sure, otherwise, the meta-analysis would be more informative and allow the authorities to make better policies and decisions based on the results. Therefore, with respect to the authors for their notice to the issue of the elderly people in Iran, we think that based on the above-mentioned concerns, possibly, the results are not a precise estimation of Iranian elderly’s health related quality of life.http://ijcbnm.sums.ac.ir/index.php/ijcbnm/article/view/939/185Systematic Reviews |
| spellingShingle | Sougand Tourani Aidin Aryankhesal Masoud Behzadifar Improving the Search Strategy of Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analysis International Journal of Community Based Nursing and Midwifery Systematic Reviews |
| title | Improving the Search Strategy of Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analysis |
| title_full | Improving the Search Strategy of Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analysis |
| title_fullStr | Improving the Search Strategy of Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analysis |
| title_full_unstemmed | Improving the Search Strategy of Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analysis |
| title_short | Improving the Search Strategy of Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analysis |
| title_sort | improving the search strategy of systematic reviews and meta analysis |
| topic | Systematic Reviews |
| url | http://ijcbnm.sums.ac.ir/index.php/ijcbnm/article/view/939/185 |
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