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. 2021 Mar 8:10:192.
doi: 10.12688/f1000research.51723.3. eCollection 2021.

Tailored PRISMA 2020 flow diagrams for living systematic reviews: a methodological survey and a proposal

Lara A Kahale  1 , Rayane Elkhoury  2   3 , Ibrahim El Mikati  4 , Hector Pardo-Hernandez  5   6 , Assem M Khamis  7 , Holger J Schünemann  8   9 , Neal R Haddaway  10   11   12 , Elie A Akl  4   8   13
Affiliations

Tailored PRISMA 2020 flow diagrams for living systematic reviews: a methodological survey and a proposal

Lara A Kahale et al. F1000Res. .

Abstract

Background: While the PRISMA flow diagram is widely used for reporting standard systematic reviews (SRs), it was not designed for capturing the results of continual searches for studies in living systematic reviews (LSRs). The objectives of this study are (1) to assess how published LSRs report on the flow of studies through the different phases of the review for the different updates; (2) to propose an approach to reporting on that flow. Methods: For objective 1, we identified all LSRs published up to April 2021. We abstracted information regarding their general characteristics and how they reported on search results. For objective 2, we based our proposal for tailored PRISMA approaches on the findings from objective 1, as well as on our experience with conducting Cochrane LSRs. Results: We identified 279 living publications relating to 76 LSRs. Of the 279 publications, 11% were protocols, 23% were base versions (i.e., the first version), 50% were partial updates (i.e., does not include all typical sections of an SR), and 16% were full updates (i.e., includes all typical sections of an SR). We identified six ways to reporting the study flow: base separately, each update separately (38%); numbers not reported (32%); latest update separately, all previous versions combined (20%); base separately, all updates combined (7%); latest update version only (3%); all versions combined (0%). We propose recording in detail the results of the searches to keep track of all identified records. For structuring the flow diagram, we propose using one of four approaches. Conclusion: We identified six ways for reporting the study flow through the different phases of the review for the different update versions. We propose to document in detail the study flow for the different search updates and select one of our four tailored PRISMA diagram approaches to present that study flow.

Keywords: PRISMA statement; evidence synthesis; flow chart; living systematic review; research methodology research reporting; research replication; research transparency; systematic review reporting standards; update.

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Conflict of interest statement

Competing interests: LAK, HP, AMK, HJS, EAA have been involved in methodological work on living systematic reviews and are authors of living systematic reviews.

Figures

Figure 1.
Figure 1.. Summary of the four tailored PRISMA flow diagram approaches to present that study to presenting on the study flow for the different search updates.
Figure 2.
Figure 2.. Snapshot of the ‘cumulative’ tab of the spreadsheet that keep track of all identified records.
Figure 3.
Figure 3.. Approach 1: presenting the search results of the different versions separately (i.e., base and each update separately).
Figure 4.
Figure 4.. Approach 2: presenting the search results for the different versions combined (i.e., including base and all update versions).
Figure 5.
Figure 5.. Approach 3: presenting the search results for the base version separately, and the results of all update version combined.
Figure 6.
Figure 6.. Approach 4: presenting the results of the latest update version separately, and the results of all previous versions (including the base) combined.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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