abstract
- In this chapter, we summarize the key principles involved in designing and conducting a rigorous systematic review focused on an intervention question. We provide key definitions on what systematic reviews and meta-analysis are and how they differ from other types of reviews. We cover the principles for designing a good systematic review question, research team, designing and conducting literature searches, screening and selecting studies, extracting data, assessing the risk of bias of the included studies, conducting qualitative and quantitative syntheses, and appraising the certainty of the body of evidence. Finally, we describe the best tools for reporting a systematic review and meta-analysis and for assessing its quality.