Common types of systematic reviews in the health sciences
| Review type | Methodological guidance | Topic assessed | Elements of research question (mnemonic) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Intervention | (Higgins, Thomas, & Chandler, 2022; Tufanaru et al., 2020) | Benefits and harms of interventions used in healthcare | Population, intervention, comparator, outcome (PICO) |
| Diagnostic test accuracy | (Leeflang et al., 2022) | How well a diagnostic test performs in diagnosing and detecting a particular disease | Population, index test(s), and target condition (PIT) |
| Qualitative (Cochrane approach) | (Noyes et al., 2022) | Questions are designed to improve understanding of intervention complexity, contextual variations, implementation, and stakeholder preferences and experiences. |
Setting, perspective, intervention or phenomenon of interest, comparison, evaluation (SPICE) Sample, phenomenon of interest, design, evaluation, research type (SPIDER) Perspective, setting, phenomena of interest/problem, environment, comparison (optional), time/timing, findings (PerSPecTIF) |
| Qualitative (JBI approach) | (Lockwood et al., 2020) | Questions inform meaningfulness and appropriateness of care and the impact of illness through documentation of stakeholder experiences, preferences, and priorities. | Population, the phenomena of interest, and the context (PICo) |
| Prognostic | (Debray et al., 2017) | Probable course or future outcome(s) of people with a health problem | Population, intervention (model), comparator, outcomes, timing, setting (PICOTS) |
| Etiology and risk | (Moola et al., 2020) | The relationship (association) between certain factors (eg, genetic, environmental) and the development of a disease or condition or other health outcome | Population or groups at risk, exposure(s), associated outcome(s) (disease, symptom, or health condition of interest), the context/location or the time period and the length of time when relevant (PEO) |
| Measurement properties | (Mokkink et al., 2010; Prinsen et al., 2018) | What is the most suitable instrument to measure a construct of interest in a specific study population? | Population, instrument, construct, outcomes (PICO) |
| Prevalence and incidence | (PERSyst Group, 2024) | The frequency, distribution and determinants of specific factors, health states or conditions in a defined population (eg, how common is a particular disease or condition in a specific group of individuals?) | Factor, disease, symptom or health condition of interest, the epidemiological indicator used to measure its frequency (prevalence, incidence), the population or groups at risk as well as the context/location and time period where relevant (CoCoPop) |
Credit to Kolaski, K., Logan, L. R., & Ioannidis, J. P. A. (2023). Guidance to best tools and practices for systematic reviews. Systematic Reviews, 12(1), 96. https://doi.org/10.1186/s13643-023-02255-9