¿This book is an ideal guide to umbrella reviews overviews of reviews and meta-epidemiologic
studies for evidence synthesis. Research is conducted at different levels: primary research
consists of original studies while secondary research comprises qualitative reviews systematic
reviews and meta-analyses. Recently a novel further level of research has been introduced
based on the analysis and pooling of reviews and meta-analysis. This book is the first to focus
solely on this new type of research design which permits a comprehensive and powerful
synthesis of scientific evidence in medicine as well as in many other fields in order to inform
decision-making. All aspects are covered including review design and registration the
searching abstracting appraisal and synthesis of evidence the appraisal of moderators and
confounders and state of the art reporting. Case studies in a range of medical specialties are
then presented. The hands-on approach of the book written by a multinational team of experts
will enable the reader to interpret and independently conduct umbrella reviews.
