Abstract
Systematic reviews (SRs) have become a central tool for evidence-based health care
over the last 30 years. The number of SRs being published has increased steadily.
However, concerns have been raised regarding the duplication of work, methodological
flaws and the currency of many systematic reviews, also in the context of the COVID-19
pandemic. Living systematic reviews (LSRs) offer a new approach to updating systematic
reviews, particularly in high-priority research fields that face the challenge of
dynamically evolving and sometimes uncertain evidence. Continual updates serve to
ensure that LSRs remain current and methodologically rigorous. As a new element of
the evidence ecosystem, LSRs can inform living guidelines and recommendations, user-adapted
formats, decisions at the patient and system level as well as gaps in primary research.
Zusammenfassung
Systematische Reviews sind seit mehr als 30 Jahren ein zentrales Instrument in der
evidenzbasierten Gesundheitsversorgung. Die Anzahl der veröffentlichten Arbeiten ist
in dieser Zeit stetig gestiegen. Allerdings gibt es aufgrund von thematischen Überschneidungen
und Duplikaten, fraglicher Qualität und mangelnder Aktualität Kritik an vielen systematischen
Reviews, auch im Kontext der COVID-19-Pandemie. Sogenannte lebende Evidenzsynthesen sind ein neuerer Ansatz, um systematische Reviews auf dem aktuellen Stand der Forschung
zu halten. Sie eignen sich für Fragestellungen, zu denen aktuell viele Studien durchgeführt
werden, die hohe Priorität haben und deren Ergebnisse noch in erheblichem Maße unsicher
sind. Ziel dieses Ansatzes ist es, durch kontinuierliche Sichtung und Einarbeitung
neuer Evidenz Aktualität sowie methodische Qualität zu erreichen. Lebende Evidenzsynthesen
können als neues Element eines systematisierten Evidenz-Ökosystems die Grundlage für
lebende Leitlinien und Empfehlungen, zielgruppengerechte Informationsangebote, Entscheidungen
auf Patienten- und Systemebene sowie für die Identifizierung von Evidenzlücken in
der Primärforschung sein.
Keywords
Schlüsselwörter
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Article info
Publication history
Published online: January 24, 2023
Accepted:
November 17,
2022
Received in revised form:
November 15,
2022
Received:
October 7,
2022
Publication stage
In Press Corrected ProofIdentification
Copyright
© 2022 Published by Elsevier GmbH.
