I read one or two articles about systematic reviews conducted in descriptive/ epidemiological studies, but those articles were published in 2000 and 2010 respectively. So I want to be sure about conducting systematic reviews using descriptive studies rather than RCT's. Thank you.
A systematic review can be conducted using descriptive studies, which are a type of study that aims to describe the characteristics of a population or group of individuals. Descriptive studies can provide valuable information on the prevalence, incidence, or distribution of a particular health condition or phenomenon, which can be useful in informing public health and clinical practice.
When conducting a systematic review of descriptive studies, the guidelines and methods used should be those that are specific to systematic reviews. This includes guidelines such as the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) or the Cochrane Handbook for Systematic Reviews of Interventions. These guidelines provide a framework for the conduct and reporting of systematic reviews and ensure that the review is transparent, reliable and reproducible.
Like any other systematic review, when conducting a systematic review of descriptive studies it is also advisable to register it in a publicly accessible database such as PROSPERO, before beginning the review, this is to avoid selective reporting bias and improve transparency of the process.
It is important to keep in mind that descriptive studies are prone to bias, particularity selection bias, so when conducting a systematic review it is important to use a robust quality assessment tool, such as the Newcastle-Ottawa Scale for observational studies, to evaluate the quality of the included studies and determine their risk of bias.
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