Conducting umbrella reviews

Lazaros Belbasis¹, Vanesa Bellou², John P A Ioannidis^{1

3

4

5

6

7}

Affiliations

¹ Meta-Research Innovation Center Berlin, QUEST Center, Berlin Institute of Health, Charité Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Berlin, Germany.
² Department of Hygiene and Epidemiology, University of Ioannina Medical School, Ioannina, Greece.
³ Meta-Research Innovation Center at Stanford, Stanford University, Stanford, CA, USA.
⁴ Department of Medicine, Stanford University Medical School, Stanford, CA, USA.
⁵ Department of Epidemiology and Population Health, Stanford University Medical School, Stanford, CA, USA.
⁶ Department of Health Research and Policy, Stanford University Medical School, Stanford, CA, USA.
⁷ Department of Biomedical Data Science, Stanford University Medical School, Stanford, CA, USA.

PMID: 36936579
PMCID: PMC9951359
DOI: 10.1136/bmjmed-2021-000071

Conducting umbrella reviews

Lazaros Belbasis et al. BMJ Med. 2022.

. 2022 Nov 22;1(1):e000071.

doi: 10.1136/bmjmed-2021-000071. eCollection 2022.

Authors

Lazaros Belbasis¹, Vanesa Bellou², John P A Ioannidis^{1

3

4

5

6

7}

Affiliations

¹ Meta-Research Innovation Center Berlin, QUEST Center, Berlin Institute of Health, Charité Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Berlin, Germany.
² Department of Hygiene and Epidemiology, University of Ioannina Medical School, Ioannina, Greece.
³ Meta-Research Innovation Center at Stanford, Stanford University, Stanford, CA, USA.
⁴ Department of Medicine, Stanford University Medical School, Stanford, CA, USA.
⁵ Department of Epidemiology and Population Health, Stanford University Medical School, Stanford, CA, USA.
⁶ Department of Health Research and Policy, Stanford University Medical School, Stanford, CA, USA.
⁷ Department of Biomedical Data Science, Stanford University Medical School, Stanford, CA, USA.

PMID: 36936579
PMCID: PMC9951359
DOI: 10.1136/bmjmed-2021-000071

Abstract

In this article, Lazaros Belbasis and colleagues explain the rationale for umbrella reviews and the key steps involved in conducting an umbrella review, using a working example.

Keywords: research design; statistics.

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Conflict of interest statement

Competing interests: All authors have completed the ICMJE uniform disclosure form at www.icmje.org/disclosure-of-interest/ and declare: no support from any organisation for the submitted work; no financial relationships with any organisations that might have an interest in the submitted work in the previous three years; no other relationships or activities that could appear to have influenced the submitted work.

Figures

**Figure 1**
Decision process regarding whether to perform an umbrella review. SRMA=systematic review and meta-analysis

**Figure 2**
Key steps in an umbrella review

See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

1. Ioannidis JPA. Integration of evidence from multiple meta-analyses: a primer on umbrella reviews, treatment networks and multiple treatments meta-analyses. CMAJ 2009;181:488–93. 10.1503/cmaj.081086 - DOI - PMC - PubMed
1. Belbasis L, Bellou V, Evangelou E, et al. . Environmental risk factors and multiple sclerosis: an umbrella review of systematic reviews and meta-analyses. Lancet Neurol 2015;14:263–73. 10.1016/S1474-4422(14)70267-4 - DOI - PubMed
1. Tonelli AR, Zein J, Adams J, et al. . Effects of interventions on survival in acute respiratory distress syndrome: an umbrella review of 159 published randomized trials and 29 meta-analyses. Intensive Care Med 2014;40:769–87. 10.1007/s00134-014-3272-1 - DOI - PMC - PubMed
1. Belbasis L, Savvidou MD, Kanu C, et al. . Birth weight in relation to health and disease in later life: an umbrella review of systematic reviews and meta-analyses. BMC Med 2016;14:147. 10.1186/s12916-016-0692-5 - DOI - PMC - PubMed
1. Bellou V, Belbasis L, Tzoulaki I, et al. . Systematic evaluation of the associations between environmental risk factors and dementia: an umbrella review of systematic reviews and meta-analyses. Alzheimers Dement 2017;13:406–18. 10.1016/j.jalz.2016.07.152 - DOI - PubMed

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Conducting umbrella reviews

Affiliations

Conducting umbrella reviews

Authors

Affiliations

Abstract

Conflict of interest statement

Figures

References

LinkOut - more resources

Full Text Sources