Systematic reviews

Systematic reviews and meta-analyses can be found in the following sources (click on a link to go to source or scroll down for more information about each):

NHS Evidence

TRIP database

Cochrane Library

NHS healthcare databases

PEDro (physiotherapy)

OT Seeker (occupational therapy)

Campbell Collaboration (social policy) 

NHS Evidence:

Provided by NICE and searches a number of evaluated sites for evidence based health and social care.  Results can be filtered by type of information to display relevant systematic reviews.   

TRIP database:

Use the ‘Systematic Reviews’ limit on the TRIP database to filter the results.  TRIP searches the Cochrane Library, but also includes a number of sources not searched elsewhere.

Cochrane Library:

Consists of several databases and a search includes all of them.  Results are displayed for each database and the most appropriate ones for systematic reviews are:  

• Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews 
• DARE (other reviews)
• Health Technology Assessment Database

NHS healthcare databases:

The databases allow you to search specifically for meta-analyses (systematic reviews) using the limit features on each database.  

PEDro:

PEDro is the Physiotherapy Evidence Database and provides details randomised controlled trials, systematic reviews and evidence-based clinical practice guidelines in physiotherapy.  Most trials have been rated for quality to discriminate between trials which are likely to be valid and to contain sufficient information to guide clinical practice.  

OT Seeker:

Contains abstracts of systematic reviews and randomised controlled trials relevant to occupational therapy.  Trials have been critically appraised and rated to assist you to evaluate their validity and interpretability.    

Campbell Collaboration:

This is a database containing details of a small number of systematic reviews produced in the fields of education, crime and justice and social welfare.

To access some of these resources you require an NHS Athens login.  Please see our NHS Athens page for more information.