Authors: Lorne A Becker and Andrew D Oxman.
Key points
Cochrane Overviews of reviews (Overviews) are intended primarily to summarize multiple Cochrane Intervention reviews addressing the effects of two or more potential interventions for a single condition or health problem.
In the absence of a relevant Cochrane Intervention review, Cochrane Overviews may additionally include systematic reviews published elsewhere.
Overviews should be conducted in priority areas where a number of Cochrane Intervention reviews exist.
Overviews have a similar structure to Intervention reviews, but include reviews rather than primary studies.
Overviews include an ‘Overviews of reviews’ table designed to reflect the ‘Summary of findings’ tables in Cochrane Intervention reviews.
Overviews should be updated when the included reviews are updated.
22.2 Preparing a Cochrane Overview of reviews