Process of developing systematic reviews, including Cochrane reviews

A systematic review is important from the point of view of a researcher, clinician, or health care decision maker because it presents information that is more reliable for a particular clinical question than the results of single trials, which may differ between one another and may be contradictory. Such a review makes it possible to summarize information on a particular clinical problem. Systematic reviews are used in everyday clinical practice by physicians around the world. They are also an important element of the process of practice guidelines development and form the basis for the economic evaluation of medical technologies. Preparing a systematic review is a multistage process, which requires the application of defined methods and scrupulous documentation in addition to a judicious use of clinical knowledge and judgment. The article describes the process of preparing a systematic review, including steps that need to be taken also in the case of a Cochrane systematic review.