Asthma diagnosis and treatmentGeneral principles for systematic reviews and meta-analyses and a critique of a recent systematic review of long-acting β-agonists
Section snippets
Methods
Conducting an overview well requires a good deal of effort and care. There are 6 basic steps to an overview.
Results
The authors of the recent systematic review and meta-analysis on the effect of long-acting β-agonists on severe asthma exacerbations and asthma-related deaths pursued the 6 steps described in the Methods section for this communication.8 The researchers searched MEDLINE, EMBASE, CINAHL, and Cochrane databases for studies published between 1966 and 2005 on long-acting β-agonists. The researchers also investigated the references of the identified publications and explored the US Food and Drug
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Cited by (16)
The role of document analysis in health policy analysis studies in low and middle-income countries: Lessons for HPA researchers from a qualitative systematic review
2021, Health Policy OPENCitation Excerpt :We specifically considered whether the stage of the policy journey under study favoured the use of document analysis as a methodology, or favoured the use of particular kinds of documents, but found an unclear association. A number of articles mentioned the key role played by documents and the process of document analysis in aiding their understanding of the four dimensions of policy, as outlined in the Walt and Gilson triangle [10,11,12,49]. Specifically, authors stated that document analysis had helped them better understand the history of the policy process [5,15,32,61], the context in which it was implemented [13,70], the sequence of policy events [18,31,49], as well as the identification of key stakeholders involved in particular policies [63,72].
Advances in the care of adults with asthma and allergy in 2007
2008, Journal of Allergy and Clinical ImmunologyCitation Excerpt :The safety of medications containing long-acting β-agonists continues to receive attention.42-44 Chinchilli45 reviewed a meta-analysis of the safety of salmeterol43 and discussed epidemiologic principles governing systematic reviews. One limitation of this meta-analysis is that findings reflect the results of 1 large study.42
The FDA-mandated trial of safety of long-acting beta-agonists in asthma: Finality or futility?
2013, ThoraxCitation Excerpt :The authors suggested up to 80% of asthma deaths in USA could be attributed to salmeterol toxicity.14 This meta-analysis was extensively criticised15 16 but nevertheless strongly influenced public opinion. Following publication of the SMART study, many reviews and meta-analyses were conducted by academia and industry.
Systematic reviews, meta-analysis, and evidence-based medicine
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Disclosure of potential conflict of interest: V. M. Chinchilli has patent licensing arrangements with the Childhood Asthma Research and Education Network of the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute in regard to a patent pending in the genetics of controller response.