Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analysis

Code:

MI015

Acronym:

MI015

Keywords
Classification	Keyword
OFICIAL	Medicine

Instance: 2014/2015 - SP

Active?	No
Responsible unit:	Department of Health Information and Decision Sciences Department
Course/CS Responsible:	Integrated Master in Medicine

Cycles of Study/Courses

Acronym	No. of Students	Study Plan	Curricular Years	Credits UCN	Credits ECTS	Contact hours	Total Time
MIMED	0	Mestrado Integrado em Medicina 2007	6	-	1,5	32	40,5
		Mestrado Integrado em Medicina- Plano oficial 2013 (Reforma Curricular)	6	-	1,5	32	40,5

Teaching language

Portuguese

Objectives

The practice of Medicine is clearly linked to the development, critical appraisal and application of scientific evidence aiming to provide healthcare of the highest quality.  Evidence synthesis studies, namely systematic reviews and meta-analysis, have a very important role as a response to the growing accumulation of scientific evidence of heterogeneous nature, design and quality. These types of studies have a dual purpose of evidence synthesis and analysis. The aim of this course is to give the adequate theoretical foundations and practical guidance for the design, execution and interpretation of systematic reviews and meta-analysis.

Learning outcomes and competences

After this course, students should be able to adequately define clinical research questions this context; plan and conduct adequate bibliographic searches; adequately define study selection criteria and assess the quality of included studies; to extract and process data; understand and apply statistical methods in the context of systematic reviews and meta-analysis; write and critically appraise systematic reviews and meta-analysis.

Working method

Presencial

Program

Scientific Research in Health and Medicine. Evidence Based Medicine.

Evidence synthesis studies – definitions and classification.

Systematic Reviews and Meta-analysis: operational phases.

• Research question formulation;
• Bibliographic searches;
• Studies selection;
• Data extraction and processing;
• Study quality assessment;
• Statistical analysis in evidence synthesis studies (defining outcome measures, combining study measures);
• Assessing between study heterogeneity;
• Publication and other bias in systematic reviews and meta-analysis;
• Presenting a protocol for a systematic review and meta-analysis;

Writing and publishing a systematic review and meta-analysis.

Mandatory literature

Higgins J, Green S, Ed. ; Cochrane handbook for systematic reviews of interventions, West Sussex; England: John Willey & Sons Ltd, 2008

Complementary Bibliography

Alex J. Sutton; Methods for Meta-analysis in Medical Research , John Wiley & Sons, Ltd, 2000
Petitti DB; Meta-Analysis, Decision Analysis, and Cost-Effectiveness Analysis, Cambridge; New York: Oxford University Press, 2000

Teaching methods and learning activities

The course will have a total duration of 15 hours, including 5 hours of theoretical classes and 10 hours of practical classes, during 1 curricular week.

An e-learning platform will be used to support theoretical and practical classes.

Evaluation Type

Distributed evaluation with final exam

Assessment Components

Designation	Weight (%)
Exame	70,00
Trabalho escrito	30,00
Total:	100,00

Calculation formula of final grade

Course evaluation will be based on a practical work and a final theoretical exam, with a weighting of 30% and 70% of the final grade, respectively. The final theoretical exam will cover the theoretical content of the course and will include: (a) closed choice questions, simple and multiple and (b) open questions with short and long answers. The final exam will have a duration of 90 minutes.

Examinations or Special Assignments

There is no special assignments.

Special assessment (TE, DA, ...)

In accordance with the rules approved by FMUP.

Classification improvement

In accordance with the rules approved by FMUP.