Yes. It is always good practice to assess the quality of studies you include in a systematic review. A quality assessment (usually through assessment of a risk of bias) is one of the important steps for conducting a systematic review, whether or not it has a meta-analysis component. Hope this helps!

Thank you very much for your reply and help.

Is there a specific tool for the assessment of case reports or case series? And should I do the assessment of each type of studies separately (using different tools in the same systematic review) or should I use a general one?

Hi, Have a look at the following materials as they may help:

1. Jarde, A., Losilla, J. M., & Vives, J. (2012). Methodological quality assessment tools of non-experimental studies: a systematic review. Ann Psychol, 28(2), 617-628.

2. Hong, Q. N., Pluye, P., Fàbregues, S., Bartlett, G., Boardman, F., Cargo, M., ... & O’Cathain, A. (2018). Mixed methods appraisal tool (MMAT), version 2018. Registration of copyright, 1148552.

Good luck!

Hi there, Joanna Briggs [ https://joannabriggs.org/critical-appraisal-tools ] has a range of tools for various study types including case reports and case series. I would use tools specific to each study type rather than using one tool for all studies, as risk factors for biases can vary across different study types.

We used these: https://merst.ca/ephpp/ and https://www.gradeworkinggroup.org/

Thank you very much for your help Lukasz Derdowski Isabelle Pearson Patricia Carson :)

Yes you should. Ouality assessment relates to evaluation of risk of bias in included studies