Overview
This lecture explains the PRISMA guidelines for systematic literature reviews, covering its purpose, main components, flowchart steps, checklist, and practical application.
What is PRISMA?
- PRISMA stands for Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses.
- It is a guideline designed to make systematic reviews and meta-analyses transparent and complete.
- PRISMA standardizes the reporting process, but not the specific review methods.
Key Goals of PRISMA
- Promotes transparency to allow other researchers to replicate and verify reviews.
- Ensures completeness so all relevant information is reported.
- Increases comparability between systematic reviews.
PRISMA Flowchart (Diagram) Steps
- Identification: Systematically search databases and record all studies found.
- Screening: Remove duplicates, review titles/abstracts, and exclude irrelevant studies.
- Eligibility: Read full texts, exclude those not meeting criteria.
- Inclusion: Finalize the group of studies to be included in the review.
Implementing PRISMA in Your Review
- Search multiple relevant databases; document methods and sources.
- Develop and apply your own study selection criteria.
- Use the PRISMA diagram to visualize and report the selection process.
- Extract key information (sample size, methods, results) from included studies.
- Assess the quality of each study before final inclusion.
PRISMA Checklist Sections
- Title/Abstract: Clearly state it's a systematic review and summarize the work.
- Introduction: Provide background, rationale, and objectives.
- Methods: Define inclusion/exclusion criteria, sources, strategies, and bias assessment.
- Results: Report selection process with a flow diagram and present findings.
- Discussion: Interpret results, note limitations, and suggest implications.
- Additional Info: Disclose protocol, funding, conflicts of interest, and data availability.
Example Application
- Example review identified studies via databases and manual searches, removed duplicates, screened and assessed eligibility, then included relevant studies.
- PRISMA flowchart and checklist were used to document each step and decision.
Key Terms & Definitions
- Systematic Review — A structured, comprehensive summary of research on a specific topic.
- Meta-Analysis — A statistical method to combine results from multiple studies.
- PRISMA Flowchart — A diagram showing the study selection process in phases.
- Manual Search — Searching sources outside databases like journals and websites.
Action Items / Next Steps
- Use the PRISMA 2020 checklist and flowchart from the official PRISMA website.
- Cite the original PRISMA source in your methods section.
- Develop your own selection and analysis criteria for your review.