Systematic reviews and meta-analysis

Code:

OPT71

Acronym:

RSMA

Keywords
Classification	Keyword
OFICIAL	Medicine

Instance: 2020/2021 - 1S

Active?	Yes
Responsible unit:	Department of Community Medicine, Information and Health Decision Sciences
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	11	Mestrado Integrado em Medicina- Plano oficial 2013 (Reforma Curricular)	4	-	1,5	14	40,5

Teaching language

Suitable for English-speaking students

Objectives

The practice of Medicine – from diagnosis and prognosis to therapy and prevention – is clearly linked to the development, critical appraisal and application of high-quality scientific evidence to support healthcare of the highest quality.  Evidence synthesis studies, namely systematic reviews and meta-analysis, increasingly have a crucial role as a response to the growing accumulation of scientific evidence of heterogeneous nature, design and quality.

Learning outcomes and competences

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

Working method

Presencial

Pre-requirements (prior knowledge) and co-requirements (common knowledge)

Not applicable.

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 – Meta-Analysis;
• Assessing between study heterogeneity;
• Publication and other bias in evidence synthesis studies;
• Presenting a protocol for a systematic review and meta-analysis;
• Writing and publishing a systematic review and meta-analysis.

Mandatory literature

Higgins JPT, Thomas J, Chandler J, Cumpston M, Li T, Page MJ, Welch VA (editors).; Cochrane Handbook for Systematic Reviews of Interventions version 6.0 (updated July 2019). Cochrane, 2019. Available from www.training.cochrane.org/handbook., John Wiley & Sons Ltd., 2019. ISBN: 9781119536659
Sutton, A. J., Abrams, K.R., Jones, D. R., Sheldon, T. A. & Song, F. ; Methods for Meta-analysis in Medical Research, London, United Kingdom: John Wiley & Sons, Ltd, 2000

Teaching methods and learning activities

The course will have a total duration of 14 hours; 7 hours of theoretical classes and  7 hours of theoretical-practical classes. After the presentation of each topic there will be time to solve practical exercises, typically using specific software. An e-learning platform will be used to support theoretical and practical classes.

Software

Review Manager (RevMan) [Computer program]. Version 5.4, The Cochrane Collaboration, 2020. Available at https://training.cochrane.org/online-learning/core-software-cochrane-reviews/revman

Evaluation Type

Distributed evaluation with final exam

Assessment Components

Designation	Weight (%)
Exame	60,00
Trabalho escrito	40,00
Total:	100,00

Amount of time allocated to each course unit

Designation	Time (hours)
Estudo autónomo	17,00
Frequência das aulas	14,00
Trabalho escrito	10,00
Total:	41,00

Eligibility for exams

The students should be present in at least 75% of the classes.

Calculation formula of final grade

Evaluation: Theoretical test (60%); Submition of a practical assignment (40%)

Examinations or Special Assignments

In the practical assignment the student has to answer a set of questions in the context of the execution of a systematic review with meta-analysis.

Special assessment (TE, DA, ...)

Special assessment periods will be allowed for typical cases, including employed students and members of the students' representatives association.