Formats

• Methods Guide Prepublication Draft Copy (PDF) 1.6 MB  
• Web Version (NLM Site)  


• Help with Viewers, Players, and Plug-ins

Persons using assistive technology may not be able to fully access information in this file. For additional assistance, please contact us.

Table of Contents published 18 Nov 2008, updated 20 February 2013.

Effectiveness and Comparative Effectiveness Reviews, systematic reviews of existing research on the effectiveness, comparative effectiveness, and comparative harms of different health care interventions, are intended to provide relevant evidence to inform real-world health care decisions for patients, providers, and policymakers. In an effort to improve the transparency, consistency, and scientific rigor of the work of the Effective Health Care (EHC) Program, through a collaborative effort, the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ), the Scientific Resource Center, and the Evidence-based Practice Centers (EPCs) have developed a Methods Guide for Comparative Effectiveness Reviews. We intend that these documents will serve as a resource for our EPCs as well as for other investigators interested in conducting Comparative Effectiveness Reviews.

The first draft of the Methods Guide for Comparative Effectiveness Reviews was posted for public comment for 8 weeks in late 2007. In response to requests from investigators and others interested in Comparative Effectiveness Review methods, we have reposted the original chapters of the draft guide (PDF, 806 kB). As these chapters are revised in response to public and peer review comment, they will replace the previous draft chapter and be posted below. If indicated by concurrent link, the paper has been additionally reviewed and published through the Journal of Clinical Epidemiology process and can be accessed through their publication. As further empiric evidence develops and our understanding of better methods improves, we anticipate that there will be subsequent updates and additional chapters to this Methods Guide and that it will continue to be a living document. Please contact us with your comments and suggestions on the Methods Guide for Comparative Effectiveness Reviews and the Effective Health Care Program.

Due to greater interest in comparative effectiveness research and a desire to expand capacity to conduct Comparative Effectiveness Reviews, AHRQ has produced training modules to familiarize new investigators with the methodological framework and guidance outlined in AHRQ's Methods Reference Guide for Effectiveness and Comparative Effectiveness Reviews. The AHRQ Training Modules for the Systematic Reviews Methods Guide are a series of 13 CME activities designed for new investigators and clinicians interested in systematic review methods. To view these activities please visit the CME/CE Activities page.

For faculty engaged in educating investigators and clinicians interested in systematic review methods, these training modules are also offered as a series of slide talks in the EHC Program Slide Library.

Systematic reviews on medical tests have unique challenges. To complement the EPC Methods Guide for Comparative Effectiveness Reviews, the EPC Program has developed a Methods Guide for Medical Test Reviews, which was posted as a series of draft papers for comment in late 2010. This series of guidance papers applies the same principles for assessing treatments to the issues and challenges in assessing medical tests and highlights particular areas where the inherently different qualities of medical tests necessitate a different or variation of the approach to systematic review compared to a review on treatments.

Working Table of Contents

For assistance accesssing PDF files, please visit Help with Viewers, Players, and Plug-ins