Cohen 2015

Appraisal of: Cohen JF, Korevaar DA, Wang J, Spijker R, Bossuyt PM. Should we search Chinese biomedical databases when performing systematic reviews? Syst Rev. 2015 Mar 6;4:23. https://doi.org/10.1186/s13643-015-0017-3.

Reviewer(s):

Caroline Higgins

Julie Glanville

Full Reference:

Cohen JF, Korevaar DA, Wang J, Spijker R, Bossuyt PM. Should we search Chinese biomedical databases when performing systematic reviews? Syst Rev. 2015 Mar 6;4:23. doi: 10.1186/s13643-015-0017-3. PMID: 25874584.

Short description:

To better understand the impact of searching Chinese biomedical databases on systematic reviews, authors compared two published reviews on the accuracy of anti-cyclic citrullinated peptide (anti-CCP) antibodies for diagnosing rheumatoid arthritis. One review by Gao et al. (2012) searched China National Knowledge Infrastructure (CNKI), an important Chinese-language database, and Whiting et al. (2010) did not include Chinese-language sources. Between the two reviews, 296 primary studies were identified, however only four studies were included in both analyses.

Though both reviews reported similar accuracy estimates, Cohen et al. demonstrates the risk of not searching Chinese language databases: 114 relevant Chinese-language studies were missed by Whiting et al. Further underscoring this risk, at the time of this 2015 study, authors searched Cochrane Library and found only 3% of Cochrane reviews reported searching of one of the five major Chinese biomedical databases.

Limitations stated by the author(s):

This study is limited to an analysis of two published SRs thus provides only case level evidence. Authors also reported difficulty comparing the two reviews: Gao et al. did not provide enough details on the index tests included in their review, so there may have been differences between the two reviews that Cohen et al. may have missed.

Limitations stated by the reviewer(s):

None.

Study Type:

Single Study

Related Chapters:

Diagnostic Accuracy

Tags:

• diagnostic accuracy

• language limits