Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses

Course Website, Fall 2025 — 8-10 October (virtual) and 1-5 December (in-person)

Instructor Information


Shelley Facente, PhD, MPH
Principal/owner of Facente Consulting
Adjunct Professor, University of California, Berkeley
shelley@facenteconsulting.com


Sara Durán, MPH, MCHES
Senior Consultant at Facente Consulting
sara@facenteconsulting.com

Course Outline and Resources

OutlineActivity links and worksheets
Day one: Wednesday, 8 Oct | Slides | Recording
-What is a systematic review (SR)?
-Why and how are SRs used?
-What is a meta-analysis (MA)?
-Overview of PROSPERO registration and PRISMA guidelines
-Defining the review question (PICOs)
-Inclusion and exclusion criteria
-Practice defining the research question in small groups		PRISMA Checklist Activity
**PRISMA Checklist
**PRISMA Abstract Checklist

Criteria Practice
**Criteria Worksheet
Marsh (2023) Journal of Pediatric Surgery
Zulfiqar (2023) PLOS One
Cieslik (2020) Complementary Therapies in Medicine
Yu (2022) Asian Journal of Surgery

Defining the Research Question Practice
**PICOS Worksheet
Day two: Thursday, 9 Oct | Slides | Recording
-Searching for records/studies (PubMed, Embase, PsychINFO, other)
-Screening records/studies
-Practice screening studies in small groups
Searching for Records Resources
MeSH Term Search (MeSH on Demand)
PubMed
Polyglot tool (for translating query syntax from one DB to another)

Zotero Demo
Zotero Plug-In to Bulk Remove Duplicates

Screening Studies Practice
Screening Worksheet Diagram
**Screening Studies Worksheet

Sample Screening and Data Extraction Tools
Appalachian SRMA Screening Tool
Appalachian SRMA Data Extraction Tool
Appalachian SRMA (Publication)
Day three: Friday, 10 Oct | Slides | Recording
-Extracting and organizing data
-Developing Figure 1
-Continued practice searching, screening, and extracting data
-Summarizing data & meta-analysis
-Evaluating risk of bias (study quality)
-Evaluating publication bias		Extracting Data
Extracting Data Quick Sheet

Creating Figure 1
PRISMA Flow Diagram Template

Bias assessment tools (also found in “Templates and tools” below)
RoB 2 Template
RobVis tool
JBI Critical Appraisal checklists

Sample Risk of Bias Evaluation Tool
Appalachian SRMA ROB Evaluation Tool
In-person Day 1: Monday, 1 Dec | Slides
-Sensitivity analyses and stratified analyses
-Understanding SRMA limitations
-Interpreting and reporting results		Case studies for the practice example
1. Use of placebo controls in the evaluation of surgery: systematic review
2. Systematic review of the values and preferences regarding the use of injectable pre-exposure prophylaxis to prevent HIV acquisition
In-person Day 2: Tuesday, 2 Dec | Slides
-Review and practice defining the review
question and PICOS criteria to be used
-More group work
In-person Day 3: Wednesday, 3 Dec | Slides
-Tips and tricks with Covidence
-More group work
In-person Day 4: Thursday, 4 Dec | Slides
-Deeper dive into evaluating bias
-Publishing your review		Additional bias assessment tools (also found in “Templates and tools” below)
ROBINS-I (Risk Of Bias In Non-randomized Studies of Interventions)
ROBINS-E (Risk Of Bias In Non-randomized Studies of Exposures)
Newcastle-Ottawa Quality Assessment Scales (Observational studies)
PROBAST (Prediction models)
QUIPS (Quality In Prognosis Studies)
CASP checklist for qualitative studies

Template for creating a funnel plot and calculating Egger’s coef
Simple funnel plot template
**Simple funnel plot examples
In-person Day 5: Friday, 5 Dec | Slides
-Reviewing special types of SRs and MAs
-Final chance for Q&A from the course		Course evaluation!

Resources:

General SRMA guidelines and information

Templates and tools

Bias assessment materials

Common Systematic Review software (both require subscriptions/licenses)

  • RevMan (Review Manager, by Cochrane)
  • EPPI-Reviewer (developed by the Evidence for Policy & Practice Information & Coordinating Centre)
  • Covidence (A non-profit, partnered with Cochrane)

Tutorials and tips

Databases