GRADE guidelines 26: Informative statements to communicate the findings of systematic reviews of interventions

  • Nancy Santesso
  • , Claire Glenton
  • , Philipp Dahm
  • , Paul Garner
  • , Elie A. Akl
  • , Brian Alper
  • , Romina Brignardello-Petersen
  • , Alonso Carrasco-Labra
  • , Hans De Beer
  • , Monica Hultcrantz
  • , Ton Kuijpers
  • , Joerg Meerpohl
  • , Rebecca Morgan
  • , Reem Mustafa
  • , Nicole Skoetz
  • , Shahnaz Sultan
  • , Charles Wiysonge
  • , Gordon Guyatt
  • , Holger J. Schünemann

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

770 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

Objectives: Clear communication of systematic review findings will help readers and decision makers. We built on previous work to develop an approach that improves the clarity of statements to convey findings and that draws on Grading of Recommendations Assessment,

Development and Evaluation (GRADE).

Study Design and Setting: We conducted workshops including 80 attendants and a survey of 110 producers and users of systematic reviews. We calculated acceptability of statements and

revised the wording of those that were unacceptable to ≥40% of participants.

Results: Most participants agreed statements should be based on size of effect and certainty of evidence. Statements for low, moderate and high certainty evidence were acceptable to >60%. Key guidance, for example, includes statements for high, moderate and low certainty for a large effect on intervention x as: x results in a large reduction…; x likely results in a large reduction…; x may result in a large reduction…, respectively.

Conclusions: Producers and users of systematic reviews found statements to communicate findings combining size and certainty of an effect acceptable. This article provides GRADE guidance and a wording template to formulate statements in systematic reviews and other

decision tools.

Keywords: review literature as topic, health communication, Evidence-Based Medicine, Surveys and Questionnaires, Language, persuasive communication

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)126-135
Number of pages10
JournalJournal of Clinical Epidemiology
Volume119
Early online date9 Nov 2019
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 1 Mar 2020

Keywords

  • Evidence-based Medicine
  • Health communication
  • Language
  • Persuasive communication
  • Review literature as topic
  • Surveys and Questionnaires

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