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. 2022 Oct;37(10):1003-1024.
doi: 10.1007/s10654-022-00908-y. Epub 2022 Sep 24.

The methodologies to assess the effectiveness of non-pharmaceutical interventions during COVID-19: a systematic review

Nicolas Banholzer #  1 , Adrian Lison #  2 , Dennis Özcelik  3 , Tanja Stadler  4 , Stefan Feuerriegel  5   6 , Werner Vach  7   8
Affiliations

The methodologies to assess the effectiveness of non-pharmaceutical interventions during COVID-19: a systematic review

Nicolas Banholzer et al. Eur J Epidemiol. 2022 Oct.

Abstract

Non-pharmaceutical interventions, such as school closures and stay-at-home orders, have been implemented around the world to control the spread of SARS-CoV-2. Their effectiveness in improving health-related outcomes has been the subject of numerous empirical studies. However, these studies show fairly large variation among methodologies in use, reflecting the absence of an established methodological framework. On the one hand, variation in methodologies may be desirable to assess the robustness of results; on the other hand, a lack of common standards can impede comparability among studies. To establish a comprehensive overview over the methodologies in use, we conducted a systematic review of studies assessing the effectiveness of non-pharmaceutical interventions between January 1, 2020 and January 12, 2021 (n = 248). We identified substantial variation in methodologies with respect to study setting, outcome, intervention, methodological approach, and effectiveness assessment. On this basis, we point to shortcomings of existing studies and make recommendations for the design of future studies.

Keywords: COVID-19; Control measures; Methodology review; Non-pharmaceutical interventions; Social distancing measures; Systematic review.

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Conflict of interest statement

All authors declare no competing interests.

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
PRISMA flow diagram. Overall, n = 248 studies were included. Some studies contain multiple analyses, such that the number of analyses included in the review is 285
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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