Assessment of therapeutic safety in systematic reviews: literature review

摘要

Evidence based medicine aims to objectively and continually evaluate all medical interventions with a view to incorporating the knowledge gained into routine healthcare practice. The ultimate goal is to enhance patient care. The most powerful tools used in evidence based medicine are systematic reviews and meta-analyses. Generally, these studies focus on the efficacy or effectiveness of therapeutic interventions; indisputably, however, information on safety is equally important for making informed, evidence based decisions on the value of a given treatment We evaluated two major medical databases to assess the extent to which therapeutic safety is addressed in systematic reviews and meta-analyses.