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Background QAngio® XA 3D/QFR® (three-dimensional/quantitative flow ratio) imaging software (Medis Medical Imaging Systems BV, Leiden, the Netherlands) and CAAS® vFFR® (vessel fractional flow reserve) imaging software (Pie Medical Imaging BV, Maastricht, the Netherlands) are non-invasive technologies to assess the functional significance of coronary stenoses, which can be alternatives to invasive fractional flow reserve assessment. Objectives The objectives were to determine the clinical effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of QAngio XA 3D/QFR and CAAS vFFR. Methods We performed a systematic review of all evidence on QAngio XA 3D/QFR and CAAS vFFR, including diagnostic accuracy, clinical effectiveness, implementation and economic analyses. We searched MEDLINE and other databases to January 2020 for studies where either technology was used and compared with fractional flow reserve in patients with intermediate stenosis. The risk of bias was assessed with quality assessment of diagnostic accuracy studies. Meta-analyses of diagnostic accuracy were performed. Clinical and implementation outcomes were synthesised narratively. A simulation study investigated the clinical impact of using QAngio XA 3D/QFR. We developed a de novo decision-analytic model to estimate the cost-effectiveness of QAngio XA 3D/QFR and CAAS vFFR relative to invasive fractional flow reserve or invasive coronary angiography alone. Scenario analyses were undertaken to explore the robustness of the results to variation in the sources of data used to populate the model and alternative assumptions. Results Thirty-nine studies (5440 patients) of QAngio XA 3D/QFR and three studies (500 patients) of CAAS vFFR were included. QAngio XA 3D/QFR had good diagnostic accuracy to predict functionally significant fractional flow reserve (≤ 0.80 cut-off point); contrast-flow quantitative flow ratio had a sensitivity of 85% (95% confidence interval 78% to 90%) and a specificity of 91% (95% confidence interval 85% to 95%). A total of 95% of quantitative flow ratio measurements were within 0.14 of the fractional flow reserve. Data on the diagnostic accuracy of CAAS vFFR were limited and a full meta-analysis was not feasible. There were very few data on clinical and implementation outcomes. The simulation found that quantitative flow ratio slightly increased the revascularisation rate when compared with fractional flow reserve, from 40.2% to 42.0%. Quantitative flow ratio and fractional flow reserve resulted in similar numbers of subsequent coronary events. The base-case cost-effectiveness results showed that the test strategy with the highest net benefit was invasive coronary angiography with confirmatory fractional flow reserve. The next best strategies were QAngio XA 3D/QFR and CAAS vFFR (without fractional flow reserve). However, the difference in net benefit between this best strategy and the next best was small, ranging from 0.007 to 0.012 quality-adjusted life-years (or equivalently £140–240) per patient diagnosed at a cost-effectiveness threshold of £20,000 per quality-adjusted life-year. Limitations Diagnostic accuracy evidence on CAAS vFFR, and evidence on the clinical impact of QAngio XA 3D/QFR, were limited. Conclusions Quantitative flow ratio as measured by QAngio XA 3D/QFR has good agreement and diagnostic accuracy compared with fractional flow reserve and is preferable to standard invasive coronary angiography alone. It appears to have very similar cost-effectiveness to fractional flow reserve and, therefore, pending further evidence on general clinical benefits and specific subgroups, could be a reasonable alternative. The clinical effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of CAAS vFFR are uncertain. Randomised controlled trial evidence evaluating the effect of quantitative flow ratio on clinical and patient-centred outcomes is needed. Future work Studies are required to assess the diagnostic accuracy and clinical feasibility of CAAS vFFR. Large ongoing randomised trials will hopefully inform the clinical value of QAngio XA 3D/QFR. Study registration This study is registered as PROSPERO CRD42019154575. Funding This project was funded by the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) Evidence Synthesis programme and will be published in full in Health Technology Assessment; Vol. 25, No. 56. See the NIHR Journals Library website for further project information.

Background People with a history of complex traumatic events typically experience trauma and stressor disorders and additional mental comorbidities. It is not known if existing evidence-based treatments are effective and acceptable for this group of people. Objective To identify candidate psychological and non-pharmacological treatments for future research. Design Mixed-methods systematic review. Participants Adults aged ≥ 18 years with a history of complex traumatic events. Interventions Psychological interventions versus control or active control; pharmacological interventions versus placebo. Main outcome measures Post-traumatic stress disorder symptoms, common mental health problems and attrition. Data sources Cumulative Index to Nursing and Allied Health Literature (CINAHL) (1937 onwards); Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials (CENTRAL) (from inception); EMBASE (1974 to 2017 week 16); International Pharmaceutical Abstracts (1970 onwards); MEDLINE and MEDLINE Epub Ahead of Print and In-Process & Other Non-Indexed Citations (1946 to present); Published International Literature on Traumatic Stress (PILOTS) (1987 onwards); PsycINFO (1806 to April week 2 2017); and Science Citation Index (1900 onwards). Searches were conducted between April and August 2017. Review methods Eligible studies were singly screened and disagreements were resolved at consensus meetings. The risk of bias was assessed using the Cochrane risk-of-bias tool and a bespoke version of a quality appraisal checklist used by the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence. A meta-analysis was conducted across all populations for each intervention category and for population subgroups. Moderators of effectiveness were assessed using metaregression and a component network meta-analysis. A qualitative synthesis was undertaken to summarise the acceptability of interventions with the relevance of findings assessed by the GRADE-CERQual checklist. Results One hundred and four randomised controlled trials and nine non-randomised controlled trials were included. For the qualitative acceptability review, 4324 records were identified and nine studies were included. The population subgroups were veterans, childhood sexual abuse victims, war affected, refugees and domestic violence victims. Psychological interventions were superior to the control post treatment for reducing post-traumatic stress disorder symptoms (standardised mean difference –0.90, 95% confidence interval –1.14 to –0.66; number of trials = 39) and also for associated symptoms of depression, but not anxiety. Trauma-focused therapies were the most effective interventions across all populations for post-traumatic stress disorder and depression. Multicomponent and trauma-focused interventions were effective for negative self-concept. Phase-based approaches were also superior to the control for post-traumatic stress disorder and depression and showed the most benefit for managing emotional dysregulation and interpersonal problems. Only antipsychotic medication was effective for reducing post-traumatic stress disorder symptoms; medications were not effective for mental comorbidities. Eight qualitative studies were included. Interventions were more acceptable if service users could identify benefits and if they were delivered in ways that accommodated their personal and social needs. Limitations Assessments about long-term effectiveness of interventions were not possible. Studies that included outcomes related to comorbid psychiatric states, such as borderline personality disorder, and populations from prisons and humanitarian crises were under-represented. Conclusions Evidence-based psychological interventions are effective and acceptable post treatment for reducing post-traumatic stress disorder symptoms and depression and anxiety in people with complex trauma. These interventions were less effective in veterans and had less of an impact on symptoms associated with complex post-traumatic stress disorder. Future work Definitive trials of phase-based versus non-phase-based interventions with long-term follow-up for post-traumatic stress disorder and associated mental comorbidities. Study registration This study is registered as PROSPERO CRD42017055523. Funding This project was funded by the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) Health Technology Assessment programme and will be published in full in Health Technology Assessment; Vol. 24, No. 43. See the NIHR Journals Library website for further project information.

Background: Specialist paediatric palliative care services are promoted as an important component of palliative care provision, but there is uncertainty about their role for children with cancer. Aim: To examine the impact of specialist paediatric palliative care for children and young people with cancer and explore factors affecting access. Design: A mixed-methods systematic review and narrative synthesis (PROSPERO Registration No. CRD42017064874). Data sources: Database (CINAHL, Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews, Embase, MEDLINE, PsycINFO) searches (2000–2019) identified primary studies of any design exploring the impact of and/or factors affecting access to specialist paediatric palliative care. Study quality was assessed using The Mixed Methods Appraisal Tool. Results: An evidence base of mainly low- and moderate-quality studies ( n = 42) shows that accessing specialist paediatric palliative care is associated with less intensive care at the end of life, more advance care planning and fewer in-hospital deaths. Current evidence cannot tell us whether these services improve children’s symptom burden or quality of life. Nine studies reporting provider or family views identified uncertainties about what specialist paediatric palliative care offers, concerns about involving a new team, association of palliative care with end of life and indecision about when to introduce palliative care as important barriers to access. There was evidence that children with haematological malignancies are less likely to access these services. Conclusion: Current evidence suggests that children and young people with cancer receiving specialist palliative care are cared for differently. However, little is understood about children’s views, and research is needed to determine whether specialist input improves quality of life.

Background The health and well-being of staff working in the NHS is a significant issue for UK health care. We sought to identify research relevant to the promotion of healthy lifestyles among NHS staff on behalf of NHS England. Objectives To map existing reviews on workplace-based interventions to promote health and well-being, and to assess the scope for further evidence synthesis work. Design Rapid and responsive scoping search and evidence map. Participants Adult employees in any occupational setting and in any role. Interventions Any intervention aimed at promoting or maintaining physical or mental health and well-being. Early intervention initiatives and those addressing violence against staff, workplace bullying or harassment were also included. Main outcome measures Any outcome related to the effectiveness, cost-effectiveness or implementation of interventions. Data sources A scoping search of nine databases was conducted to identify systematic reviews on health and well-being at work. Searches were limited by publication date (2000 to January/February 2019). Review methods The titles and abstracts of over 8241 records were screened and a total of 408 potentially relevant publications were identified. Information on key characteristics were extracted from the titles and abstracts of all potentially relevant publications. Descriptive statistics (counts and percentages) for key characteristics were generated and data from reviews and ‘reviews of reviews’ were used to produce the evidence map. Results Evidence related to a broad range of physical and mental health issues was identified across 12 ‘reviews of reviews’ and 312 other reviews, including 16 Cochrane reviews. There also exists National Institute for Health and Care Excellence guidance addressing multiple issues of potential relevance. A large number of reviews focused on mental health, changing lifestyle behaviour, such as physical activity, or on general workplace health/health promotion. Most of the reviews that focused only on health-care staff addressed mental health issues, and stress/burnout in particular. Limitations The scoping search process was extensive and clearly effective at identifying relevant publications, but the strategy used may not have identified every potentially relevant review. Owing to the large number of potentially relevant reviews identified from the scoping search, it was necessary to produce the evidence map using information from the titles and abstracts of reviews only. Conclusions It is doubtful that further evidence synthesis work at this stage would generate substantial new knowledge, particularly within the context of the NHS Health and Wellbeing Framework[NHS England. Workforce Health and Wellbeing Framework. 2018. URL: www.nhsemployers.org/-/media/Employers/Publications/Health-and-wellbeing/NHS-Workforce-HWB-Framework_updated-July-18.pdf (accessed 10 January 2019)] published in 2018. Additional synthesis work may be useful if it addressed an identifiable need and it was possible to identify one of the following: (1) a specific and focused research question arising from the current evidence map; it may then be appropriate to focus on a smaller number of reviews only, and provide a more thorough and critical assessment of the available evidence; and (2) a specific gap in the literature (i.e. an issue not already addressed by existing reviews or guidance); it may then be possible to undertake further literature searching and conduct a new evidence review. Funding This project was funded by the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) Health Services and Delivery Research programme and will be published in full in Health Services and Delivery Research; Vol. 8, No. 18. See the NIHR Journals Library website for further project information.

AimsThis systematic review places a recently completed multi-centre randomised controlled trial (RCT) UK FROST, in the context of existing randomised evidence for the management of primary frozen shoulder. UK FROST compared the effectiveness of pre-specified physiotherapy techniques with a steroid injection (PTSI), manipulation under anaesthesia (MUA) with a steroid injection and arthroscopic capsular release (ACR). This review updates a 2012 review focusing on the effectiveness of MUA, ACR, hydrodilatation, and PTSI. MethodsMEDLINE, Embase, PEDro, Science Citation Index, Clinicaltrials.gov, CENTRAL and WHO International Clinical Trials Registry were searched up-to December 2018. Reference lists of included studies were screened. No language restrictions applied. Eligible studies were RCTs comparing the effectiveness of MUA, ACR, PTSI and hydrodilatation against each other or supportive care or no treatment for the management of primary frozen shoulder. ResultsNine RCTs were included. The primary outcome of patient reported shoulder function at long-term follow-up (>6 months and ≤ 12 months) was reported for five treatment comparisons across four studies. Standardised mean difference (SMD) were: ACR vs MUA: 0.21 (95% CI: 0.00 to 0.42), ACR vs supportive care: -0.13 (95% CI: -1.10 to 0.83), and ACR vs PTSI:0.33 (95% CI: 0.07 to 0.59) and 0.25 (95% CI: -0.34 to 0.85) all favouring ACR; MUA vs Supportive care: 0 (95% CI: -0.44 to 0.44) not favouring either; and MUA vs PTSI: 0.12 (95% CI: -0.14 to 0.37) favouring MUA. None of these differences met the threshold of clinical significance agreed for the UK FROST and most confidence intervals included zero. ConclusionThe findings from a recent multi-centre RCT provided the strongest evidence that, when compared with each other, neither PTSI, MUA nor ACR are clinically superior. Evidence from smaller RCTs did not change this conclusion. Hydrodilatation’s effectiveness based on four RCTs was inconclusive and remains an evidence gap. Where does this fit in the literature?•There were few high quality and adequately powered randomised studies that evaluated key treatment choices in the management of patients with primary frozen shoulder.•UK FROST has addressed this and provided the strongest evidence that when compared with each other neither PTSI, MUA nor ACR are clinically superior. Evidence from smaller RCTs did not change this conclusion.•There is an evidence gap suggesting the need for a rigorously designed and adequately powered RCT to evaluate the comparative effectiveness of hydrodilatation.

Background Lifestyle risk behaviours are associated with an increased risk of non-communicable disease and mortality. There are socio-economic inequalities in these behaviours, with some behaviours being more prevalent in particular groups, such as prisoners, homeless people and Gyspies, Travellers and Roma. The aim of this scoping review was to identify and bring together existing evidence from systematic reviews on reducing risk behaviours in disadvantaged groups and highlight where there is insufficient evidence to inform policy. Methods MEDLINE and Embase were searched up to October 2020 for English language reviews, with supplementary searching in Epistemonikos and Health Systems Evidence. Systematic reviews reporting behavioural outcomes of interventions targeting smoking, excessive alcohol use, unhealthy diet or physical inactivity in low income or socio-economic status (SES), unemployed people, homeless people, care leavers, prisoners, refugees or asylum seekers, Travellers, Gypsies or Roma, people with learning disabilities or deprived areas or communities were eligible. Reviews of population-level policies reporting differential effects for disadvantaged groups and qualitative reviews exploring barriers or facilitators to behaviour change were also included. The literature was mapped based on the group and behaviour targeted. Results In total 9,336 records were screened, 262 full texts retrieved and 92 systematic reviews included. The majority of reviews included studies of people with low income or SES (n=68), with diet and low income the most frequently addressed combination. There were fourteen reviews on prisoners, 12 on deprived areas, ten on homeless people and nine on people with learning disabilities. Only three reviews included unemployed people and two included refugees or asylum seekers (both focusing on barriers and facilitators to healthy eating). No reviews were identified on care leavers or Gypsies, Travellers and Roma. In total there were 11 reviews targeting alcohol use. Sixteen qualitative reviews explored participants’ perceptions of barriers and facilitators to changing their behaviour. Conclusion A large number of systematic reviews were identified but we found some evidence gaps where new syntheses or primary studies may be needed to guide policy, for example on care leavers, Gypsies, Travellers and Roma and refugees and asylum seekers. Other useful contributions might include an overview bringing together different interventions in low-income populations and an overview of the perceptions of disadvantaged groups about behaviour change, allowing common barriers to be identified as well as factors that are unique to specific groups.

Background Objectively derived search filters for adverse drug effects and complications in surgery have been developed but not for medical device adverse effects. Objective To develop and validate search filters to retrieve evidence on medical device adverse effects from ovid medline and embase. Methods We identified systematic reviews from Epistemonikos and the Health Technology Assessment (hta) database. Included studies within these reviews that reported on medical device adverse effects were randomly divided into three test sets and one validation set of records. Using word frequency analysis from one test set, we constructed a sensitivity maximising search strategy. This strategy was refined using two other test sets, then validated. Results From 186 systematic reviews which met our inclusion criteria, 1984 unique included studies were available from medline and 1986 from embase. Generic adverse effects searches in medline and embase achieved 84% and 83% sensitivity. Recall was improved to over 90%, however, when specific adverse effects terms were added. Conclusion We have derived and validated novel search filters that retrieve over 80% of records with medical device adverse effects data in medline and embase. The addition of specific adverse effects terms is required to achieve higher levels of sensitivity.

This individual participant data meta-analysis is the most intensive possible evaluation of the effectiveness of early intensive applied behaviour analysis–based interventions for pre-school autistic children compared with treatment as usual/eclectic interventions. Data from 491 participants (originally collected in 10 studies) were included. Children receiving early intensive applied behaviour analysis–based interventions improved more on the Vineland adaptive behaviour scale (MD = 7.00; 95% confidence interval = 1.95–12.06) and cognitive ability (intelligence quotient) (MD = 14.13; 95% confidence interval = 9.16–19.10) relative to comparators at 2 years; though effects varied considerably across studies. Evidence for other outcomes was inconclusive due to insufficient evidence and there were few data on longer-term effects. All studies were at risk of bias across several domains, often due to the lack of randomisation or blinding of outcome assessors. Given the emerging evidence of modest, albeit short term, effects of a range of pre-school autism interventions and the limitations of the quality of evaluation studies to date, future research should investigate which supports and interventions are most effective for children and families prioritising outcomes measures that are meaningful for the autism community and longer-term follow-up. Further systematic reviews of the existing evidence are unlikely to add to the findings presented here. Lay abstract Early intensive applied behaviour analysis–based interventions are designed to support young autistic children’s learning and development. Unfortunately, the available evidence about the effectiveness of these interventions remains unclear. Several reviews have focused on the published findings rather than contacting the authors to collect and analyse data about the individual participants in the original studies. Also, most of the studies were carried out by groups involved in delivering the interventions leading to the potential bias in interpreting the results. Our research team (supported by an international advisory group) carried out an independent individual patient data review by collecting the original participant data from the authors of the studies, to examine the effectiveness of these interventions. The results suggested that early intensive applied behaviour analysis–based interventions might lead to some changes in children’s cognitive ability (intelligence quotient) and everyday life skills after 2 years, compared with standard treatments. However, all the studies had problems with the way they were designed. Also, few of the studies looked at outcomes that have been described as most important to autistic people or followed children beyond 2 years. We think that further systematic reviews of the existing evidence are unlikely to add to the findings of our review. Furthermore, we recommend that future research should investigate which types of supports and interventions are most effective for children and families, prioritising outcomes measures that are meaningful for the autism community and include, wherever possible, longer-term follow-up.

Background Young people’s use of pornography and participation in sexting are commonly viewed as harmful behaviours. This paper reports findings from a ‘review of reviews’, which aimed to systematically identify and synthesise the evidence on pornography and sexting amongst young people. Here, we focus specifically on the evidence relating to young people’s use of pornography; involvement in sexting; and their beliefs, attitudes, behaviours and wellbeing to better understand potential harms and benefits, and identify where future research is required. Methods We searched five health and social science databases; searches for grey literature were also performed. Review quality was assessed and findings synthesised narratively. Results Eleven reviews of quantitative and/or qualitative studies were included. A relationship was identified between pornography use and more permissive sexual attitudes. An association between pornography use and stronger gender-stereotypical sexual beliefs was also reported, but not consistently. Similarly, inconsistent evidence of an association between pornography use and sexting and sexual behaviour was identified. Pornography use has been associated with various forms of sexual violence, aggression and harassment, but the relationship appears complex. Girls, in particular, may experience coercion and pressure to engage in sexting and suffer more negative consequences than boys if sexts become public. Positive aspects to sexting were reported, particularly in relation to young people’s personal relationships. Conclusions We identified evidence from reviews of varying quality that linked pornography use and sexting amongst young people to specific beliefs, attitudes and behaviours. However, evidence was often inconsistent and mostly derived from observational studies using a cross-sectional design, which precludes establishing any causal relationship. Other methodological limitations and evidence gaps were identified. More rigorous quantitative studies and greater use of qualitative methods are required.

Rapid and accurate diagnosis of late-onset infection in newborn infants could inform treatment decisions and avoid unnecessary administration of antibiotics.To compare the accuracy of serum C-reactive protein (CRP) with that of microbiological blood culture for diagnosing late-onset infection in newborns.MEDLINE (1946-2019), Embase (1946-2019), and Science Citation Index (1900-2019) databases were searched for references (any language). The MeSH search terms included were "exp infant, newborn/" or "premature birth/" plus free text synonyms; and "C-reactive protein/" plus free text synonyms; and "exp sepsis/" or "exp bacterial infections/" plus free text synonyms. The proceedings from relevant conferences and references of identified papers were scrutinized. Authors were contacted to request missing data.Cohort and cross-sectional studies were included that compared the accuracy of serum CRP levels with microbiological culture results to diagnose late-onset (72 hours after birth) infection in newborns (any gestational age) hospitalized after birth. Two reviewers assessed study eligibility. Among 10 394 records, 148 studies were assessed as full texts.The Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-analyses (PRISMA) guideline extension for Diagnostic Test Accuracy (DTA) reviews was followed. Two reviewers assessed the method quality of each study using guidance from the Cochrane Screening and Diagnostic Test Methods Group (adapted from the Quality Assessment of Diagnostic Accuracy Studies 2).The primary meta-analysis outcome was diagnostic test accuracy of serum CRP level taken at initial investigation of an infant with suspected late-onset infection. The median specificity (proportion of true-negative results) and calculated pooled sensitivity (proportion of true-positive results) were determined by generating hierarchical summary receiver characteristic operating curves.In total, 22 studies with 2255 infants were included (sample size range, 11-590 infants). Participants in most studies were preterm (37 weeks) or very low-birth weight (1500 g) infants. Two studies additionally enrolled infants born at term. Most studies (16) used a prespecified CRP level cutoff for a "positive" index test (5-10 mg/L), and most studies (17) used the culture of a pathogenic microorganism from blood as the reference standard. Risk of bias was low with independent assessment of index and reference tests. At median specificity (0.74), pooled sensitivity was 0.62 (95% CI, 0.50-0.72). Adding serum CRP level to the assessment of an infant with a 40% pretest probability of late-onset infection (the median for the included studies) generated posttest probabilities of 26% for a negative test result and 61% for a positive test result.The findings suggest that determination of serum CRP level at initial evaluation of an infant with suspected late-onset infection is unlikely to aid early diagnosis or to select infants to undergo further investigation or treatment with antimicrobial therapy or other interventions.

Background Search filter development for adverse effects has tended to focus on retrieving studies of drug interventions. However, a different approach is required for surgical interventions. Objective To develop and validate search filters for medline and Embase for the adverse effects of surgical interventions. Methods Systematic reviews of surgical interventions where the primary focus was to evaluate adverse effect(s) were sought. The included studies within these reviews were divided randomly into a development set, evaluation set and validation set. Using word frequency analysis we constructed a sensitivity maximising search strategy and this was tested in the evaluation and validation set. Results Three hundred and fifty eight papers were included from 19 surgical intervention reviews. Three hundred and fifty two papers were available on medline and 348 were available on Embase. Generic adverse effects search strategies in medline and Embase could achieve approximately 90% relative recall. Recall could be further improved with the addition of specific adverse effects terms to the search strategies. Conclusion We have derived and validated a novel search filter that has reasonable performance for identifying adverse effects of surgical interventions in medline and Embase. However, we appreciate the limitations of our methods, and recommend further research on larger sample sizes and prospective systematic reviews.

Background: Conventionally, searching for eligible articles to include in systematic reviews and maps of research has relied primarily on information specialists conducting Boolean searches of multiple databases and manually processing the results, including deduplication between these multiple sources. Searching one, comprehensive source, rather than multiple databases, could save time and resources. Microsoft Academic Graph (MAG) is potentially such a source, containing a network graph structure which provides metadata that can be exploited in machine learning processes. Research is needed to establish the relative advantage of using MAG as a single source, compared with conventional searches of multiple databases. This study sought to establish whether: (a) MAG is sufficiently comprehensive to maintain our living map of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) research; and (b) eligible records can be identified with an acceptably high level of specificity. Methods: We conducted a pragmatic, eight-arm cost-effectiveness analysis (simulation study) to assess the costs, recall and precision of our semi-automated MAG-enabled workflow versus conventional searches of MEDLINE and Embase (with and without machine learning classifiers, active learning and/or fixed screening targets) for maintaining a living map of COVID-19 research. Resource use data (time use) were collected from information specialists and other researchers involved in map production. Results: MAG-enabled workflows dominated MEDLINE-Embase workflows in both the base case and sensitivity analyses. At one month (base case analysis) our MAG-enabled workflow with machine learning, active learning and fixed screening targets identified n=469 more new, eligible articles for inclusion in our living map – and cost £3,179 GBP ($5,691 AUD) less – than conventional MEDLINE-Embase searches without any automation or fixed screening targets. Conclusions: MAG-enabled continuous surveillance workflows have potential to revolutionise study identification methods for living maps, specialised registers, databases of research studies and/or collections of systematic reviews, by increasing their recall and coverage, whilst reducing production costs.

Authors and indexers are increasingly including terms for adverse drug effects in the titles, abstracts or indexing of records in MEDLINE and Embase. However, it is not clear if this is the same for studies with non-drug adverse effects data. We therefore assessed the feasibility of using adverse effects terms when searching MEDLINE or Emabse to retrieve papers of non-drug adverse effects. A collection of papers that reported data on non-drug adverse effects was sought from included studies of systematic reviews. Each included study was analysed to ascertain whether the corresponding record in MEDLINE and Embase included adverse effects terms in the title, abstract or indexing. From 9,129 records screened from DARE (Database of Abstracts of Reviews of Effects), 30 reviews evaluating non-drug adverse effects met our inclusion criteria. From these, 635 unique papers were included in our analysis. Sensitive searches for adverse effects required generic and specific named adverse effects terms using the title, abstract and indexing. Records relating to surgical interventions were more likely to contain adverse effects terms than records relating to non-surgical interventions. Using any adverse effects terms in the title, abstract or indexing in MEDLINE and Embase would have identified an average of 94% of papers on surgical adverse effect interventions per systematic review and 72% of papers on non-surgical adverse effects per systematic review. Hence, while a generic non-drug adverse effect search filter may not yet be feasible, a filter for the adverse effects of surgical interventions may be within reach.

Background Risk behaviours (e.g. unhealthy diet, lack of physical activity (PA)) are associated with increased risk of chronic disease and mortality. The majority of adults in England engage in two or more risk behaviours, which tend to co-occur in individuals. There are also strong socio-economic gradients in key health behaviours. A systematic review of interventions targeting multiple risk behaviours (MRBs) in general adult populations found small improvements in diet, PA and smoking. In this systematic review, we aimed to evaluate the effectiveness of MRB interventions in overweight or obese adults (PROSPERO CRD42016051589). Methods Six databases were searched up to October 2016 with no language restrictions, and references of relevant systematic reviews were screened. Randomised controlled trials (RCTs) of interventions targeting two or more risk behaviours in obese or overweight adults (≥16 years) were eligible if they reported behavioural outcomes. Quality of RCTs was assessed with the Cochrane risk of bias tool. Where possible, random-effects meta-analyses were conducted. Data not included in the meta-analyses were narratively synthesised. Associations between study factors and effectiveness were explored through meta-regression. Results In total 4392 records were identified, 219 full texts screened and 51 RCTs included. All studies targeted diet and PA, with weight management the most common objective. This contrasts with our review in general adult populations which found smoking and alcohol were often targeted alongside diet and PA and the most common aim was healthy lifestyle promotion. Few interventions included components other than education, training and enablement. There were small changes in fruit and vegetable (MD 27.88 grams, 95% CI 13.01 to 42.76, I2=51.5%), fat (SMD -0.33, 95% CI -0.51 to -0.15, I2=87.7%) and calorie intake (MD -282.89, 95% CI -426.01 to -139.78, I2=91.6) and total PA (SMD 0.21, 95% CI 0.01 to 0.41, I2=87.2%) at the end of interventions. Equivocal benefits were identified for other behavioural outcomes. Generally improvements declined at follow-up and when compared with an active control. We found no associations between study factors and effectiveness at the end of interventions. Conclusion Interventions were effective for some behavioural outcomes in obese and overweight adults, but improvements were small and declined over time. Studies were limited in their approach, with most adopting ‘agentic’ strategies which make substantial demands on individuals to initiate and sustain behaviour change. Research is needed into alternative approaches which target the environmental conditions that influence health behaviours and make healthier choices easier for individuals.

Aim To evaluate the effectiveness of pharmacological interventions for managing non‐respiratory sleep disturbances in children with neurodisabilities. Method We performed a systematic review and meta‐analyses of randomized controlled trials (RCTs). We searched 16 databases, grey literature, and reference lists of included papers up to February 2017. Data were extracted and assessed for quality by two researchers (B.B., C.M., G.S., A.S., A.P.). Results Thirteen trials were included, all evaluating oral melatonin. All except one were at high or unclear risk of bias. There was a statistically significant increase in diary‐reported total sleep time for melatonin compared with placebo (pooled mean difference 29.6min, 95% confidence interval [CI] 6.9–52.4, p=0.01). Statistical heterogeneity was high (97%). For the single RCT with low risk of bias, the unadjusted mean difference in total sleep time was 13.2 minutes (95% CI −13.3 to 39.7) favouring melatonin, while the mean difference adjusted for baseline total sleep time was statistically significant (22.4min, 95% CI 0.5–44.3, p=0.04). Adverse event profile suggested that melatonin was well‐tolerated. Interpretation There is a paucity of evidence on managing sleep disturbances in children with neurodisabilities, and it is mostly of limited scope and poor quality. There is evidence of the benefit and safety of melatonin compared with placebo, although the extent of this benefit is unclear. What this paper adds Melatonin for the management of non‐respiratory sleep disturbances in children with neurodisabilities was well tolerated with minimal adverse effects.The extent of benefit and which children might benefit most from melatonin use is uncertain.Benefit may be greatest in those with autism spectrum disorder; however, this finding should be interpreted with caution., What this paper adds Melatonin for the management of non‐respiratory sleep disturbances in children with neurodisabilities was well tolerated with minimal adverse effects.The extent of benefit and which children might benefit most from melatonin use is uncertain.Benefit may be greatest in those with autism spectrum disorder; however, this finding should be interpreted with caution. This article's abstract has been translated into Spanish and Portuguese. Follow the links from the abstract to view the translations.

ObjectiveTo identify existing evidence on interagency collaboration between law enforcement, emergency services, statutory services and third sector agencies regarding people with mental ill health.DesignSystematic scoping review. Scoping reviews map particular research areas to identify research gaps.Data sources and eligibilityASSIA, CENTRAL, the Cochrane Library databases, Criminal Justice Abstracts, ERIC, Embase, MEDLINE, PsycINFO, PROSPERO and Social Care Online and Social Sciences Citation Index were searched up to 2017, as were grey literature and hand searches. Eligible articles were empirical evaluations or descriptions of models of interagency collaboration between the police and other agencies.Study appraisal and synthesisScreening and data extraction were undertaken independently by two researchers. Arksey’s framework was used to collate and map included studies.ResultsOne hundred and twenty-five studies were included. The majority of articles were of descriptions of models (28%), mixed methods evaluations of models (18%) and single service evaluations (14%). The most frequently reported outcomes (52%) were ‘organisational or service level outcomes’ (eg, arrest rates). Most articles (53%) focused on adults with mental ill health, whereas others focused on adult offenders with mental ill health (17.4%). Thirteen models of interagency collaboration were described, each involving between 2 and 13 agencies. Frequently reported models were ‘prearrest diversion’ of people with mental ill health (34%), ‘coresponse’ involving joint response by police officers paired with mental health professionals (28.6%) and ‘jail diversion’ following arrest (23.8%).ConclusionsWe identified 13 different interagency collaboration models catering for a range of mental health-related interactions. All but one of these models involved the police and mental health services or professionals. Several models have sufficient literature to warrant full systematic reviews of their effectiveness, whereas others need robust evaluation, by randomised controlled trial where appropriate. Future evaluations should focus on health-related outcomes and the impact on key stakeholders.

Background The police and others in occupations where they come into close contact with people experiencing/with mental ill health, often have to manage difficult and complex situations. Training is needed to equip them to recognise and assist when someone has a mental health issue or learning/intellectual disability. We undertook a systematic review of the effectiveness of training programmes aimed at increasing knowledge, changing behaviour and/or attitudes of the trainees with regard to mental ill health, mental vulnerability, and learning disabilities. Methods Databases searched from 1995 onwards included: ASSIA, Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Clinical Trials (CENTRAL), Criminal Justice Abstracts, Embase, ERIC, MEDLINE, PsycINFO, Social Science Citation Index. Courses, training, or learning packages aimed at helping police officers and others who interact with the public in a similar way to deal with people with mental health problems were included. Primary outcomes were change in practice and change in outcomes for the groups of people the trainees come into contact with. Systematic reviews, randomised controlled trials (RCTs) and non- randomised controlled trials (non-RCTs) were included and quality assessed. In addition non-comparative evaluations of training for police in England were included. Results From 8578 search results, 19 studies met the inclusion criteria: one systematic review, 12 RCTs, three prospective non-RCTs, and three non-comparative studies. The training interventions identified included broad mental health awareness training and packages addressing a variety of specific mental health issues or conditions. Trainees included police officers, teachers and other public sector workers. Some short term positive changes in behaviour were identified for trainees, but for the people the trainees came into contact with there was little or no evidence of benefit. Conclusions A variety of training programmes exist for non-mental health professionals who come into contact with people who have mental health issues. There may be some short term change in behaviour for the trainees, but longer term follow up is needed. Research evaluating training for UK police officers is needed in which a number of methodological issues need to be addressed. Trial registration Protocol registration number: PROSPERO: CRD42015015981. Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s12888-017-1356-5) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

Background We performed a systematic review to assess whether we can quantify the underreporting of adverse events (AEs) in the published medical literature documenting the results of clinical trials as compared with other nonpublished sources, and whether we can measure the impact this underreporting has on systematic reviews of adverse events. Methods and Findings Studies were identified from 15 databases (including MEDLINE and Embase) and by handsearching, reference checking, internet searches, and contacting experts. The last database searches were conducted in July 2016. There were 28 methodological evaluations that met the inclusion criteria. Of these, 9 studies compared the proportion of trials reporting adverse events by publication status. The median percentage of published documents with adverse events information was 46% compared to 95% in the corresponding unpublished documents. There was a similar pattern with unmatched studies, for which 43% of published studies contained adverse events information compared to 83% of unpublished studies. A total of 11 studies compared the numbers of adverse events in matched published and unpublished documents. The percentage of adverse events that would have been missed had each analysis relied only on the published versions varied between 43% and 100%, with a median of 64%. Within these 11 studies, 24 comparisons of named adverse events such as death, suicide, or respiratory adverse events were undertaken. In 18 of the 24 comparisons, the number of named adverse events was higher in unpublished than published documents. Additionally, 2 other studies demonstrated that there are substantially more types of adverse events reported in matched unpublished than published documents. There were 20 meta-analyses that reported the odds ratios (ORs) and/or risk ratios (RRs) for adverse events with and without unpublished data. Inclusion of unpublished data increased the precision of the pooled estimates (narrower 95% confidence intervals) in 15 of the 20 pooled analyses, but did not markedly change the direction or statistical significance of the risk in most cases. The main limitations of this review are that the included case examples represent only a small number amongst thousands of meta-analyses of harms and that the included studies may suffer from publication bias, whereby substantial differences between published and unpublished data are more likely to be published. Conclusions There is strong evidence that much of the information on adverse events remains unpublished and that the number and range of adverse events is higher in unpublished than in published versions of the same study. The inclusion of unpublished data can also reduce the imprecision of pooled effect estimates during meta-analysis of adverse events., In a systematic review, Su Golder and colleagues study the completeness of adverse event reporting, mainly associated with pharmaceutical interventions, in published articles as compared with other information sources., Author Summary Why Was This Study Done? Research on medical treatments provides information on the efficacy of such treatments, and on side effects. The balance between efficacy and side effects is important in assessing the overall benefit of a new treatment. How much information on the side effects of medical treatments that is currently not published in journal articles is not known. What Did the Researchers Do and Find? We searched several databases and other sources, and found 28 studies that provided information on the amount of data on side effects in published journal articles as compared to other sources (such as websites, conferences, and industry-held data). The 28 studies found that a lower percentage of published studies than unpublished studies contain information on side effects of treatments. A lower number of side effects are generally reported in published than unpublished studies, and a wider range of named side effects are reported in unpublished than published studies. Including unpublished data in research leads to more precise conclusions. What Do These Findings Mean? These findings suggest that researchers should search beyond journal publications for information on side effects of treatments. These findings also support the need for the drug industry to release full data on side effects so that a complete picture can be given to health professionals, policy makers, and patients.

Background Risk behaviours, such as smoking and physical inactivity account for up to two-thirds of all cardiovascular deaths, and are associated with substantial increased mortality in many conditions including cancer and diabetes. As risk behaviours are thought to co-occur in individuals we conducted a systematic review of studies addressing clustering or co-occurrence of risk behaviours and their predictors. As the main aim of the review was to inform public health policy in England we limited inclusion to studies conducted in the UK. Methods Key databases were searched from 1990 to 2016. We included UK based cross-sectional and longitudinal studies that investigated risk behaviours such as smoking, physical inactivity, unhealthy diet. High heterogeneity precluded meta-analyses. Results Thirty-seven studies were included in the review (32 cross-sectional and five longitudinal). Most studies investigated unhealthy diet, physical inactivity, alcohol misuse, and smoking. In general adult populations, there was relatively strong evidence of clustering between alcohol misuse and smoking; and unhealthy diet and smoking. For young adults, there was evidence of clustering between sexual risk behaviour and smoking, sexual risk behaviour and illicit drug use, and sexual risk behaviour and alcohol misuse. The strongest associations with co-occurrence and clustering of multiple risk behaviours were occupation (up to 4-fold increased odds in lower SES groups) and education (up to 5-fold increased odds in those with no qualifications). Conclusions Among general adult populations, alcohol misuse and smoking was the most commonly identified risk behaviour cluster. Among young adults, there was consistent evidence of clustering found between sexual risk behaviour and substance misuse. Socio-economic status was the strongest predictor of engaging in multiple risk behaviours. This suggests the potential for interventions targeting multiple risk behaviours either sequentially or concurrently particularly where there is evidence of clustering. In addition, there is potential for intervening at the social or environmental level due to the strong association with socio-economic status. Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s12889-016-3373-6) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

Objectives We sought to identify the proportion of systematic reviews of adverse effects which search for unpublished data and the success rates of identifying unpublished data for inclusion in a systematic review. Study Design and Setting Two reviewers independently screened all records published in 2014 in the Database of Abstracts of Reviews of Effects (DARE) for systematic reviews where the primary aim was to evaluate an adverse effect or effects. Data were extracted on the types of adverse effects and interventions evaluated, sources searched, how many unpublished studies were included, and source or type of unpublished data included. Results From 9,129 DARE abstracts, 348 met our inclusion criteria. Most of these reviews evaluated a drug intervention (237/348, 68%) with specified adverse effects (250/348, 72%). Over a third (136/348, 39%) of all the reviews searched, a specific source for unpublished data, such as conference abstracts or trial registries, and nearly half of these reviews (65/136, 48%) included unpublished data. An additional 13 reviews included unpublished data despite not searching specific sources for unpublished studies. Overall, 22% (78/348) of reviews included unpublished data/studies. Conclusion Most reviews of adverse effects do not search specifically for unpublished data but, of those that do, nearly half are successful.

Housing and neighbourhood conditions are widely acknowledged to be important social determinants of health, through three main pathways: (1) internal housing conditions, (2) area characteristics and (3) housing tenure. We conducted a systematic overview of systematic reviews of intervention studies to provide an overview of the evidence on the impact of housing and neighbourhood interventions on health and health inequalities. There is relatively strong evidence for interventions aimed at improving area characteristics and compelling evidence for warmth and energy efficiency interventions targeted at vulnerable individuals. However, the health impacts of area-level internal housing improvement interventions are as yet unclear. We found no reviews of interventions aimed at altering housing tenure. This remains an important area for further research and potentially new evidence syntheses.

Background There is increasing pressure to tackle the wider social determinants of health through the implementation of appropriate interventions. However, turning these demands for better evidence about interventions around the social determinants of health into action requires identifying what we already know and highlighting areas for further development. Methods Systematic review methodology was used to identify systematic reviews (from 2000 to 2007, developed countries only) that described the health effects of any intervention based on the wider social determinants of health: water and sanitation, agriculture and food, access to health and social care services, unemployment and welfare, working conditions, housing and living environment, education, and transport. Results Thirty systematic reviews were identified. Generally, the effects of interventions on health inequalities were unclear. However, there is suggestive systematic review evidence that certain categories of intervention may impact positively on inequalities or on the health of specific disadvantaged groups, particularly interventions in the fields of housing and the work environment. Conclusion Intervention studies that address inequalities in health are a priority area for future public health research.

BackgroundCrisis Concordat was established to improve outcomes for people experiencing a mental health crisis. The Crisis Concordat sets out four stages of the crisis care pathway: (1) access to support before crisis point; (2) urgent and emergency access to crisis care; (3) quality treatment and care in crisis; and (4) promoting recovery.ObjectivesTo evaluate the clinical effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of the models of care for improving outcomes at each stage of the care pathway.Data sourcesElectronic databases were searched for guidelines, reviews and, where necessary, primary studies. The searches were performed on 25 and 26 June 2014 for NHS Evidence, Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews, Database of Abstracts of Reviews of Effects, NHS Economic Evaluation Database, and the Health Technology Assessment (HTA) and PROSPERO databases, and on 11 November 2014 for MEDLINE, PsycINFO and the Criminal Justice Abstracts databases. Relevant reports and reference lists of retrieved articles were scanned to identify additional studies.Study selectionWhen guidelines covered a topic comprehensively, further literature was not assessed; however, where there were gaps, systematic reviews and then primary studies were assessed in order of priority.Study appraisal and synthesis methodsSystematic reviews were critically appraised using the Risk Of Bias In Systematic reviews assessment tool, trials were assessed using the Cochrane risk-of-bias tool, studies without a control group were assessed using the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) prognostic studies tool and qualitative studies were assessed using the Critical Appraisal Skills Programme quality assessment tool. A narrative synthesis was conducted for each stage of the care pathway structured according to the type of care model assessed. The type and range of evidence identified precluded the use of meta-analysis.Results and limitationsOne review of reviews, six systematic reviews, nine guidelines and 15 primary studies were included. There was very limited evidence for access to support before crisis point. There was evidence of benefits for liaison psychiatry teams in improving service-related outcomes in emergency departments, but this was often limited by potential confounding in most studies. There was limited evidence regarding models to improve urgent and emergency access to crisis care to guide police officers in their Mental Health Act responsibilities. There was positive evidence on clinical effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of crisis resolution teams but variability in implementation. Current work from the Crisis resolution team Optimisation and RElapse prevention study aims to improve fidelity in delivering these models. Crisis houses and acute day hospital care are also currently recommended by NICE. There was a large evidence base on promoting recovery with a range of interventions recommended by NICE likely to be important in helping people stay well.Conclusions and implicationsMost evidence was rated as low or very low quality, but this partly reflects the difficulty of conducting research into complex interventions for people in a mental health crisis and does not imply that all research was poorly conducted. However, there are currently important gaps in research for a number of stages of the crisis care pathway. Particular gaps in research on access to support before crisis point and urgent and emergency access to crisis care were found. In addition, more high-quality research is needed on the clinical effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of mental health crisis care, including effective components of inpatient care, post-discharge transitional care and Community Mental Health Teams/intensive case management teams.Study registrationThis study is registered as PROSPERO CRD42014013279.FundingThe National Institute for Health Research HTA programme.

Background The Cumulative Index to Nursing and Allied Health Literature (CINAHL) is generally thought to be a good source to search when conducting a review of qualitative evidence. Case studies have suggested that using CINAHL could be essential for reviews of qualitative studies covering topics in the nursing field, but it is unclear whether this can be extended more generally to reviews of qualitative studies in other topic areas. Methods We carried out a retrospective analysis of a sample of systematic reviews of qualitative studies to investigate CINAHL’s potential contribution to identifying the evidence. In particular, we planned to identify the percentage of included studies available in CINAHL and the percentage of the included studies unique to the CINAHL database. After screening 58 qualitative systematic reviews identified from the Database of Abstracts of Reviews of Effects (DARE), we created a sample set of 43 reviews covering a range of topics including patient experience of both illnesses and interventions. Results For all 43 reviews (21 %) in our sample, we found that some of the included studies were available in CINAHL. For nine of these reviews, all the studies that had been included in the final synthesis were available in the CINAHL database, so it could have been possible to identify all the included studies using just this one database, while for an additional 21 reviews (49 %), 80 % or more of the included studies were available in CINAHL. Consequently, for a total of 30 reviews, or 70 % of our sample, 80 % or more of the studies could be identified using CINAHL alone. 11 reviews, where we were able to recheck all the databases used by the original review authors, had included a study that was uniquely identified from the CINAHL database. The median % of unique studies was 9.09 %; while the range had a lowest value of 5.0 % to the highest value of 33.0 %. Conclusions Assuming a rigorous search strategy was used and the records sought were accurately indexed, we could expect CINAHL to be a good source of primary studies for qualitative evidence syntheses. While we found some indication that CINAHL had the potential to provide unique studies for systematic reviews, we could only fully test this on a limited number of reviews, so we are less confident about this finding. Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s13643-015-0069-4) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

Objectives Social prescribing is a way of linking patients in primary care with sources of support within the community to help improve their health and well-being. Social prescribing programmes are being widely promoted and adopted in the UK National Health Service and so we conducted a systematic review to assess the evidence for their effectiveness. Setting/data sources Nine databases were searched from 2000 to January 2016 for studies conducted in the UK. Relevant reports and guidelines, websites and reference lists of retrieved articles were scanned to identify additional studies. All the searches were restricted to English language only. Participants Systematic reviews and any published evaluation of programmes where patient referral was made from a primary care setting to a link worker or facilitator of social prescribing were eligible for inclusion. Risk of bias for included studies was undertaken independently by two reviewers and a narrative synthesis was performed. Primary and secondary outcome measures Primary outcomes of interest were any measures of health and well-being and/or usage of health services. Results We included a total of 15 evaluations of social prescribing programmes. Most were small scale and limited by poor design and reporting. All were rated as a having a high risk of bias. Common design issues included a lack of comparative controls, short follow-up durations, a lack of standardised and validated measuring tools, missing data and a failure to consider potential confounding factors. Despite clear methodological shortcomings, most evaluations presented positive conclusions. Conclusions Social prescribing is being widely advocated and implemented but current evidence fails to provide sufficient detail to judge either success or value for money. If social prescribing is to realise its potential, future evaluations must be comparative by design and consider when, by whom, for whom, how well and at what cost. Trial registration number PROSPERO Registration: CRD42015023501.

Background Research has indicated that adverse effects terms are increasingly prevalent in the title, abstract or indexing terms of articles that contain adverse drug effects data in MEDLINE and Embase. However, it is unknown whether adverse effects terms are present in the database records of articles that contain adverse effects data of medical devices, and thus, to what extent the development of an adverse effects search filter for medical devices may be feasible. Methods A case study systematic review of a medical device was selected. The included studies from a systematic review of the safety of recombinant human bone morphogenetic protein-2 (rhBMP-2) for spinal fusion were used in the analysis. For each included study, the corresponding database record on MEDLINE and Embase was assessed to measure the presence or absence of adverse effects terms in the title, abstract or indexing. The performance of each potential adverse effects search term was also measured and compared. Results There were 82 publications (49 studies) included in the systematic review with 51 of these indexed on MEDLINE and 55 on Embase. Ninety-four percent (48/51) of the records on MEDLINE and 95% (52/55) of the records on Embase contained at least one adverse effects related search term. The wide variety of adverse effects terms included in the title, abstract or indexing of bibliographic records, and the lack of any individual high-performing search terms suggests that a combination of terms in different fields is required to identify adverse effects of medical devices. In addition, the most successful search terms differed from the most successful terms for identifying adverse drug effects. Conclusions The search filters currently available for adverse drug effects are not necessarily useful for searching adverse effects data of medical devices. The presence of adverse effects terms in the bibliographic records of articles on medical devices, however, indicates that combinations of adverse effects search terms may be useful in search strategies in MEDLINE and Embase. The results, therefore, suggest that not only a search filter for the adverse effects of medical devices is feasible, but also that it should be a research priority.

BackgroundCrime and fear of crime may impact negatively on health and well-being. Interventions to reduce crime and fear of crime, particularly interventions in the physical environment, may be a promising way to improve population-level well-being.Project components(1) Mapping review of theories and pathways; (2) systematic review of effectiveness; (3) systematic review of UK qualitative data; and (4) focus groups and interviews with stakeholders.Methods(1) The mapping review was a pragmatic non-systematic review focusing on theoretical literature and observational quantitative studies and development of a theoretical model of pathways. (2 and 3) The systematic reviews followed Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) guidance. In total, 18 databases including EMBASE, MEDLINE, PsycINFO and Science Citation Index were searched from inception to 2010. Studies presenting data on the built environment and the fear of crime were included. Quality assessment was conducted. Data synthesis was conducted narratively for the intervention review, with harvest plots to synthesise data on inequalities, and by thematic analysis for the review of qualitative evidence. (4) Semistructured interviews with nine stakeholders working in community safety and two focus groups with members of the public were conducted to inform the methods of the project and the dissemination of findings. Data were analysed thematically.Results(1) There are complex and often indirect links between crime, fear of crime, environment, and health and well-being at both individual and population levels. Fear of crime is associated with poorer health outcomes. There is considerable debate about the measurement of fear of crime. Both fear of crime and crime are associated with a range of environmental factors. (2) A total of 12,093 references were screened on abstract for the two systematic reviews. Of these, 47 effectiveness studies (22 controlled and 25 uncontrolled) were included in the systematic review of effectiveness, with 36 conducted in the UK, 10 in the USA and one in the Netherlands. There is some evidence that home security improvements and non-crime-related environmental improvements may improve some fear of crime outcomes. There is little evidence that the following reduce fear of crime: street lighting improvements, closed-circuit television, multicomponent environmental crime prevention programmes or regeneration programmes. The evidence on housing improvement is mixed. Very few data on the health and well-being outcomes of crime reduction interventions were located and the study quality overall is poor. (3) A total of 39 studies were included in the systematic review of qualitative data. Several factors in the physical environment are perceived to impact on fear of crime. However, factors in the local social environment appear to be more important as drivers of fear of crime. There is considerable evidence for limitations on physical activity as a result of fear of crime, but less for mental health impacts. (4) Stakeholders see fear of crime as harder to address than crime and as linked to health and well-being. Environmental interventions, such as Secured by Design, are widely used and positively regarded.LimitationsThe review is relatively restricted in its scope and a number of relevant interventions and themes are excluded. The underlying evidence base is of limited quality, particularly for the effectiveness review, and is heterogeneous.ConclusionsBroader social interventions appear more promising than crime-focused environmental interventions as a means of improving fear of crime, health and well-being. The qualitative evidence suggests that fear of crime may impact on physical activity. More broadly, crime and fear of crime appear to be linked to health and well-being mainly as aspects of socioeconomic disadvantage. This review indicates the following gaps in the literature: evaluation research on the health impacts of crime reduction interventions; more robust research on interventions to reduce fear of crime; systematic reviews of non-environmental interventions to reduce fear of crime and systematic reviews of qualitative evidence on other crime-related topics.FundingThe National Institute for Health Research Public Health Research programme.

Background The value of citation searches as part of the systematic review process is currently unknown. While the major guides to conducting systematic reviews state that citation searching should be carried out in addition to searching bibliographic databases there are still few studies in the literature that support this view. Rather than using a predefined search strategy to retrieve studies, citation searching uses known relevant papers to identify further papers. Methods We describe a case study about the effectiveness of using the citation sources Google Scholar, Scopus, Web of Science and OVIDSP MEDLINE to identify records for inclusion in a systematic review. We used the 40 included studies identified by traditional database searches from one systematic review of interventions for multiple risk behaviours. We searched for each of the included studies in the four citation sources to retrieve the details of all papers that have cited these studies. We carried out two analyses; the first was to examine the overlap between the four citation sources to identify which citation tool was the most useful; the second was to investigate whether the citation searches identified any relevant records in addition to those retrieved by the original database searches. Results The highest number of citations was retrieved from Google Scholar (1680), followed by Scopus (1173), then Web of Science (1095) and lastly OVIDSP (213). To retrieve all the records identified by the citation tracking searching all four resources was required. Google Scholar identified the highest number of unique citations. The citation tracking identified 9 studies that met the review’s inclusion criteria. Eight of these had already been identified by the traditional databases searches and identified in the screening process while the ninth was not available in any of the databases when the original searches were carried out. It would, however, have been identified by two of the database search strategies if searches had been carried out later. Conclusions Based on the results from this investigation, citation searching as a supplementary search method for systematic reviews may not be the best use of valuable time and resources. It would be useful to verify these findings in other reviews.

Background: The Centre for Reviews and Dissemination (CRD) funded through the United Kingdom National Institute for Health Research undertakes systematic reviews evaluating the research evidence on health and public health questions of national and international importance. CRD is involved in methods research and produces internationally accepted guidelines for undertaking systematic reviews. A core product of the Centre are the CRD databases; a key resource for health professionals, policy makers, and researchers around the world. Research evidence evaluating the effects and cost-effectiveness of healthcare interventions is growing year on year, and can be difficult and time consuming to identify and appraise. The databases assist decision makers by systematically identifying and critically describing systematic reviews and economic evaluations, appraising their quality and highlighting their relative strengths and weaknesses; and providing a comprehensive listing of ongoing and published health technology assessments.Methods and Results: This article briefly outlines the processes behind each of the three databases, gives details of the records, the information they contain and the value added by CRD. An overview of the new public interface for the CRD databases to be launched later this year is given. Improvements and innovations to supplement existing functions are listed, including enhanced and new search options, the addition of quick links to relevant material from within individual records, an integrated PubMed search and the ability to select personal preferences.Conclusions: CRD's databases provide free access to an important knowledge base and are used widely to underpin evidence informed healthcare decisions in the United Kingdom and internationally.

Background:\ud Fear of crime is associated with negative health and wellbeing outcomes, and may mediate some impacts of the built environment on public health. A range of environmental interventions have been hypothesized to reduce the fear of crime.\ud Methods:\ud This review aimed to synthesize the literature on the effectiveness of interventions in the built environment to reduce the fear of crime. Systematic review methodology, following Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) guidance, was used. Studies of environmental interventions which reported a fear of crime outcome and used any prospective evaluation design (randomized controlled trial (RCT), trial or uncontrolled before-and-after study) were included. Eighteen databases were searched. The Hamilton tool was used to assess quality. A narrative synthesis of findings was undertaken.\ud Results:\ud A total of 47 studies were included, 22 controlled and 25 uncontrolled, with total sample sizes ranging from n = 52 to approximately n = 23,000. Thirty-six studies were conducted in the UK, ten studies in the USA and one study in the Netherlands. The quality of the evidence overall is low. There are some indications that home security improvements and non-crime-related environmental improvements may be effective for some fear of crime outcomes. There is little evidence that the following reduce fear of crime: street lighting improvements, closed-circuit television (CCTV), multi-component environmental crime prevention programs or regeneration programs.\ud Conclusions:\ud There is some evidence for the effectiveness of specific environmental interventions in reducing some indicators of fear of crime, but more attention to the context and possible confounders is needed in future evaluations of complex social interventions such as these.

Background Publication and outcome reporting bias are well known problems when conducting a systematic review. Negative results are less likely to be published and under reporting or selective reporting are particularly common for adverse effects. One way to attempt to overcome these biases is to include unpublished studies or data. Systematic review guidance such as The Cochrane Handbook currently recommend searching beyond the published article by contacting experts or authors and by searching conference abstracts, the grey literature and trial registries (including industry trial registries). Methods We sought to identify the proportion of systematic reviews of adverse effects which search for unpublished data and the success rates of identifying unpublished data for inclusion in a systematic review. Two reviewers independently screened all records published in 2014 in the Database of Abstracts of Reviews of Effects (DARE) for systematic reviews where the primary aim was to evaluate an adverse effect or effects. Data were extracted on the types of adverse effects and interventions evaluated, sources searched, how many unpublished studies were included and type of unpublished data included. Results From 9129 DARE abstracts, 348 met our inclusion criteria. Most reviews evaluated a drug intervention (237/348, 68%) with specified adverse effects (250/348, 72%). Over a third (136/348, 39%) of all the reviews searched a specific source for unpublished data, such as conference abstracts or trial registries. However, less than half of these reviews (62/136, 46%) included unpublished data in their review. The most popular sources searched were conference abstracts, contacting authors and ClinicalTrials.gov. Overall over a fifth of all the reviews included some unpublished data (78/348, 22%). Although most of these reviews searched specific sources of unpublished data (62/78, 79%), others did not but included sources which contain unpublished studies in addition to published (such as Embase or CENTRAL) (16/78, 11%). The present survey was unable to accurately determine which sources give the highest yield in terms of unpublished data. However, the results indicate that industry trial registers and the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) website may have the highest success rates. Conclusion The majority of reviews of adverse effects do not search specifically for unpublished data and of those that do less than half are successful. Given the potential for publication and outcome reporting bias more reviews should attempt to identify unpublished data and research to uncover the most successful sources of unpublished data should be made a priority.

Background Serious concerns have emerged regarding publication bias or selective omission of outcomes data whereby negative results are less likely to be published than positive results. This has important implications for evaluations of adverse events because conclusions based on only published studies may not present a true picture of the number and range of the events. Our objectives were to ascertain whether we can quantify the underreporting of adverse events in the medical literature and measure the impact this underreporting has on systematic reviews of adverse events. Methods A systematic review of studies assessing the impact of unpublished adverse events data on systematic reviews was undertaken. The PICO for this review was as follows; P (Population): any, I (Intervention); any, C (Comparisons): published versus unpublished data, O (Outcomes): number of studies, patients or adverse events, types of adverse events or odds ratios or risk ratios. Studies were identified from 15 databases, handsearching, reference checking, internet searches and contacting experts. The search results were sifted independently by two reviewers. No quality assessment tool exists for these types of evaluations so the quality criteria were derived in-house. Results From 4344 records, 27 methodological evaluations met the inclusion criteria. Ten compared numbers of adverse events in matched published and unpublished documents. The percentage of adverse events that would have been missed had an analysis relied only on the published versions varied between 43% and 100% (median 57%). Two other studies demonstrated that there are substantially more types of adverse events reported in unpublished than published documents. Nine studies compared the proportion of trials reporting adverse events by publication status. The median percentage of published documents with adverse events information was 46% compared to 95% in the corresponding unpublished documents. There was a similar pattern with unmatched studies where 43% of published studies contained adverse events information compared to 83% of unpublished studies. There were 15 meta-analyses that reported the odds ratios/risk ratios with and without unpublished data. Inclusion of unpublished data increased the precision of the pooled estimates (narrower 95% confidence intervals) in 13 of the 15 pooled analyses. Conclusion There is strong evidence that much of the information on adverse events remains unpublished and that the number and range of adverse events is higher in unpublished than in published versions of the same study. The inclusion of unpublished data can reduce the imprecision of pooled effect estimates during meta-analysis of adverse events.

Background Systematic reviews risk producing biased conclusions if a comprehensive search to identify eligible studies is not undertaken, but little evidence exists to guide prioritisation of databases to search when resources are limited. Objectives A systematic review examining interventions for managing frozen shoulder (adhesive capsulitis) was used to investigate the performance of bibliographic databases in identifying the included studies, the smallest combination of databases required to retrieve all included studies, and the performance of the searches themselves. Methods We calculated the yield of included studies from each of 15 databases, and the recall and precision of each search strategy. We investigated differences between the presence of a record in a database and its retrieval. Results Thirty of 31 studies were present in at least one database. Yields of individual databases ranged from 0% to 90% (median 23%). Two combinations of databases identified all 30 studies: Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials (CENTRAL) and Science Citation Index (SCI); or CENTRAL, MEDLINE and PreMEDLINE. Conclusions In a systematic review of a range of interventions used to manage frozen shoulder, at least two databases and reference checking were required to retrieve all included studies, but searching for future reviews should not be restricted.

Objective To map the health effects of interventions which aim to alter the psychosocial work environment, with a particular focus on differential impacts by socio-economic status, gender, ethnicity, or age. Methods A systematic approach was used to identify, appraise and summarise existing systematic reviews (umbrella review) that examined the health effects of changes to the psychosocial work environment. Electronic databases, websites, and bibliographies, were searched from 2000–2007. Experts were also contacted. Identified reviews were critically appraised and the results summarised taking into account methodological quality. The review was conducted in the UK between October 2006 and December 2007. Results Seven systematic reviews were identified. Changes to the psychosocial work environment were found to have important and generally beneficial effects on health. Importantly, five reviews suggested that organisational level psychosocial workplace interventions may have the potential to reduce health inequalities amongst employees. Conclusion Policy makers should consider organisational level changes to the psychosocial work environment when seeking to improve the health of the working age population.

Background When assessing whether a screening programme is appropriate, there is a particular obligation to ensure that the harms as well as the benefits are considered. Among these harms is the likelihood that false-negative results will occur. In some cases, the consequences of these can be difficult to assess, although false reassurance leading to diagnostic delay and subsequent treatment has been suggested. However, no test is totally accurate (with 100% sensitivity and specificity), and false-negative results are inherent in any screening programme that does not have 100% sensitivity. This review was carried out to assess the medical, psychological, economic and legal consequences of false-negative results that occur in national screening programmes. Objectives (1) to determine the consequences of false-negative findings; (2) to investigate how their adverse effects can be minimised; to assess their implications for the NHS, including the impact of false-negatives on public confidence in screening programmes; to identify relevant theoretical perspectives that may be potentially useful when considering the implications of false-negative results. Methods A systematic literature review was carried out. This included a search of 18 electronic databases, various bibliographies and contact with experts to identify relevant literature and perspectives. Outcomes included in the review fell into four categories: medical outcomes (morbidity and mortality); psychological outcomes (distress, false reassurance, loss of confidence in services); economic outcomes (such as costs to the NHS); legal outcomes (such as litigation). Other outcomes, such as the impact of false-negatives on public confidence in screening programmes, were also included. The participants included individuals taking part in screening programmes, healthcare professionals and organisations responsible for screening programmes. Methodological details of the review are provided in the full report. Results A total of 6660 abstracts were screened, and 420 potentially relevant papers were identified. Most of the studies that were identified presented only anecdotal evidence. (1) Medical outcomes: In all, 13 papers presented quantitative information relevant to the medical consequences of false-negative results; seven of these were primary studies, and the remaining studies were literature reviews or models examining the likely impact of false-negative results. (2) Psychological outcomes: A total of eight published studies presented information on the psychological consequences of negative results in general; only one study, on antenatal screening, provided direct evidence of the psychological consequences of false-negative results, where they were associated with lower parental acceptance of the affected child and with blaming others for this outcome. (3) Economic outcomes: Only two studies presented information on the economic consequences. The strength of evidence from most of the primary studies was low. There is some evidence that false-negative results may have a large legal impact. For example, in cervical screening they have led to legal action and its associated costs, including payment of compensation; this is based on reports of events in both the UK and US health systems. There also seems to be a consensus in the literature that false-negatives may have a negative impact on public confidence in screening; evidence is again limited however. Conclusions False-negatives are evident in all screening programmes, even when the quality of the service provided is high. They may have the potential to delay the detection of breast and cervical cancer, but there is little evidence to help assess their psychological consequences in these or other screening programmes. False-negatives are likely to lead to legal action being taken by those individuals affected, and potentially may reduce public confidence in screening. (ABSTRACT TRUNCATED)

Editor—Olsen et al assessed a sample of Cochrane reviews from 1998 and highlighted some areas where improvement is possible.1 They found that 29% of reviews had major problems, including inappropriate methods and conclusions. As they say, improvement is still possible, but this figure nevertheless represents a major improvement on the quality of non-Cochrane reviews. We have reviewed the methods of 480 systematic reviews on the database of abstracts of reviews of effectiveness (DARE) at the University of York.2,3 Methodological details of the reviews were coded and checked by two reviewers working independently. We found that only half (52%) of the reviews had systematically assessed the validity of the included studies; that most systematic reviews were unlikely to be comprehensive (they had searched either one or two databases); and that overall only a quarter (26%) of reviews met three key methodological criteria (relating to a thorough search, assessment of the validity of the included studies, and investigation of heterogeneity). Narrative reviews were less likely to meet all three criteria (20% v 30%, P=0.02) and more likely to be coded by raters as inconclusive. Up to half of non-Cochrane reviews are thus potentially misleading. Against this, Olsen et al's estimate of 29% for Cochrane reviews compares favourably. Although more recent research syntheses are likely to be of higher quality, particularly if reviewers follow current guidelines,4,5 problems with the reliability of systematic reviews will probably remain. Since our study was conducted the criteria for including systematic reviews on the database of abstracts of reviews of effectiveness have been revised (from October 2000 onwards) to ensure that only reviews of potentially high methodological quality are included. We would support Olsen et al's suggestion that users of any systematic review should assess its reliability. We would also recommend that for a critical assessment of the quality of non-Cochrane reviews users should first look at the database of abstracts of reviews of effectiveness.

Objectives: Database of Abstracts of Reviews of Effectiveness (DARE) (http://www.york.ac.uk/inst/crd/) at the NHS Centre for Reviews and Dissemination provides a unique international resource of structured summaries of quality-assessed reviews of health care interventions. These reviews have been identified from searches of electronic databases and by hand-searching journals. This paper describes and summarizes the DARE database, including the topic areas covered and the review methods used.Methods: The first 480 structured abstracts on the DARE database were summarized. Data were extracted from each database field and coded for analysis.Results: Most of the systematic reviews investigated the effectiveness of treatments: 54% investigated the effectiveness of medical therapies, and 10% assessed surgical interventions. Around two-thirds used meta-analytic methods to combine primary studies. The quality of the reviews was variable, with just over half of the reviews (52%, n = 251) having systematically assessed the validity of the included primary studies. Narrative reviews were more likely than meta-analyses to reach negative conclusions (42% vs. 25%, p = .0001). The 21 reviews that reported drug company funding were more likely to reach positive conclusions (81% vs. 66%, p = .15).Conclusion: The DARE database is a valuable source of quality-assessed systematic reviews, and is free and easily accessible. It provides a valuable online resource to help in filtering out poorer quality reviews when assessing the effectiveness of health technologies.