The DOI matches its Crossref record; 37 of the 37 references it cites were found in a registry or an index.
Not only randomized controlled trials, but also case series should be considered in systematic reviews of rapidly developing technologies
Abstract
Objective Case series can influence clinical practice but are often omitted from systematic reviews. We evaluated the contribution of case series to a systematic review of radiofrequency catheter ablation (RFCA) for treatment of atrial fibrillation (AF).Study design and setting Analysis of the results of a systematic review based on a search of 25 electronic databases and Internet sources.Results We included eight controlled trials and 53 case series. Case series provided most patients longest follow-up and data on adverse events and complications. Rates of freedom from arrhythmia were comparable between case series, RFCA arms of controlled trials, and a survey of RFCA centers.Conclusion In the case of RFCA for AF, the case series make a useful contribution to the systematic review. Inclusion of case series can increase the evidence base and strengthen the credibility of a review of an emerging health technology. These advantages must be balanced against the risk of bias associated with the lack of a control group, potential publication bias, overrepresentation of results from specialist centers, and overlap of patients across series. Specification in the review protocol of inclusion criteria for outcomes and quality criteria is recommended to make optimum use of case series.
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“Sixteen articles (17%) provided recommendations on the key item “protocol development” (Table 3), [29–44] with publication dates between 1994 and 2015 (median year of publication 2009).”
From Methods to systematically review and meta-analyse observational studies: a systematic scoping review of recommendations (2018) · cites this paper as [32]
In the citing paper
“Thirty-nine articles (42%) made recommendations on the assessment of quality and risk of bias of individual studies, [12, 16, 29, 30, 32–35, 37, 38, 43, 47–50, 52–54, 56, 64–66, 70, 71, 73, 75, 77, 82, 84–94] with publication dates between 1994 and 2016 (median year of publication 2009).”
From Methods to systematically review and meta-analyse observational studies: a systematic scoping review of recommendations (2018) · cites this paper as [32]
Citations
Cites
Publication bias in clinical research
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Circumferential Pulmonary-Vein Ablation for Chronic Atrial Fibrillation
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Catheter Ablation for Atrial Fibrillation in Congestive Heart Failure
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- Reeves BC, Vardulaki KA, Tsang VTC, Bennett-Lloyd BD, O'Riordan PA. A systematic review of case series of paediatric cardiac surgery. 8th Annual Cochrane Colloquium. Cape Town, South Africa; 2000.
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Jansen, J. P., Fleurence, R., Devine, B., Itzler, R. F., Barrett, A., Hawkins, N., Lee, K., Boersma, C., Annemans, L., & Cappelleri, J. C. (2011) · Value in Health · doi:10.1016/j.jval.2011.04.002 · Cited by 1,029
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Ganesan, A. N., Shipp, N. J., Brooks, A. G., Kuklik, P., Lau, D. H., Lim, H. S., Sullivan, T., Roberts‐Thomson, K. C., & Sanders, P. (2013) · Journal of the American Heart Association · doi:10.1161/jaha.112.004549 · Cited by 800
“Study quality was assessed using a modified version of quality assessment criteria for case series.(6)”
MethodCammarota, G., Ianiro, G., & Gasbarrini, A. (2014) · Journal of Clinical Gastroenterology · doi:10.1097/mcg.0000000000000046 · Cited by 428
Mueller, M., D’Addario, M., Egger, M., Cevallos, M., Dekkers, O., Mugglin, C., & Scott, P. (2018) · BMC Medical Research Methodology · doi:10.1186/s12874-018-0495-9 · Cited by 400
Metadata
- Authors
- Chambers, D., Rodgers, M., & Woolacott, N.
- Affiliations
- University of York (GB)
- Corresponding author
- Chambers, Duncan
- Venue
- Journal of Clinical Epidemiology
- Publisher
- Elsevier BV
- Published
- 2009-12
- Volume
- 62
- Issue
- 12
- Pages
- 1253-1260.e4
- ISSN
- 0895-4356 (ISSN-L)
- OpenAlex
- W1995030115
- Cited by
- 121
- References
- 37
- Citations by year
- 2025: 6 · 2024: 1 · 2023: 4 · 2022: 7 · 2021: 7 · 2020: 13 · 2019: 15 · 2018: 12 · 2017: 5 · 2016: 10 · 2015: 9 · 2014: 10 · 2013: 15 · 2012: 2
- FWCI
- 0.15
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Journal of Clinical Epidemiology (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Decision Sciences › Statistics, Probability and Uncertainty › Meta-analysis and systematic reviews
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Cardiology and Cardiovascular Medicine › Atrial Fibrillation Management and Outcomes
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Public Health, Environmental and Occupational Health › Clinical practice guidelines implementation
- Keywords
- case series, systematic review methodology, radiofrequency catheter ablation, atrial fibrillation, emerging health technologies, evidence base, risk of bias, publication bias, arrhythmia recurrence, adverse events
- MeSH terms
- Atrial Fibrillation, Humans, Quality Assurance, Health Care, Review Literature as Topic, Technology Assessment, Biomedical, Randomized Controlled Trials as Topic, Catheter Ablation, Evidence-Based Medicine
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