Evidence Synthesis for Older Adults
Evidence Synthesis for Older Adults. An Age and Ageing themed collection.
Keeping abreast of the latest evidence in older adult care is increasingly difficult, therefore comprehensive, objective, and critical assessment of the published literature is essential for effective health and social care. This is the rationale that has underpinned systematic literature review and meta-analysis since it was first conceived almost 100 years ago.
At its best, evidence synthesis offers something that is more than the sum of the included papers. This approach has informed many of the seminal and practice changing papers in geriatric medicine, including reviews demonstrating the value of Comprehensive Geriatric Assessment (CGA), the utility of dedicated stroke unit care and the effectiveness of multicomponent interventions to prevent delirium.
Age and Ageing recognises the value of evidence synthesis and is a strong supporter of this method. We have a dedicated systematic review section in the journal, senior members of the editorial board have expertise in evidence synthesis, and previous papers have described best practice in systematic reviews of older adult research.
In this collection, we have selected evidence synthesis papers published in the journal in the last few years. Choosing the final list was difficult as we had so many interesting and important reviews to pick from. We opted to select papers that were exemplars of differing methodological approaches to evidence synthesis, from classical pair-wise meta-analysis, through to newer methods such as test accuracy and qualitative synthesis, encompassing a range of topics relevant to health and social care for older people.
For those wishing to learn more about evidence synthesis techniques we also offer two companion articles:
- New Horizons in Evidence Synthesis for Older Adults.
- Seeing the forest (plot) for the trees – the importance of evidence synthesis in older adult care.
Prof Terry Quinn, University of Glasgow and NIHR Evidence Synthesis Group, UK
Prof Susan Shenkin, Usher Institute, UK.
The collection
REVIEWS OF INTERVENTIONS
- Interventions to reduce falls in hospitals: a systematic review and meta-analysis
- Comparative effectiveness of non-pharmacological interventions for frailty: a systematic review and network meta-analysis
- The effect of thyroid hormone therapy on muscle function, strength and mass in older adults with subclinical hypothyroidism—an ancillary study within two randomized placebo controlled trials
EPIDEMIOLOGY REVIEWS
- Prevalence and implications of frailty in acute stroke: systematic review & meta-analysis
- Prevalence of frailty in 62 countries across the world: a systematic review and meta-analysis of population-level studies
DIAGNOSTIC TEST ACCURACY REVIEWS
- Diagnostic accuracy of the 4AT for delirium detection in older adults: systematic review and meta-analysis
- A systematic review and meta-analysis of the measurement properties of concerns-about-falling instruments in older people and people at increased risk of falls
- The frailty index based on laboratory test data as a tool to investigate the impact of frailty on health outcomes: a systematic review and meta-analysis
SCOPING AND RAPID REVIEWS
- Outcome measures from international older adult care home intervention research: a scoping review
- Virtual wards: a rapid evidence synthesis and implications for the care of older people
QUALITATIVE REVIEWS
REVIEWS OF REVIEWS