The second part, or body, of the plain language summary should be no more than 400 words in length and should include:
A statement about why the review is important: for example definition of and background to the healthcare problem, signs and symptoms, prevalence, description of the intervention and the rationale for its use.
The main findings of the review: this could include numerical summaries when the review has reported results in numerical form, but these should be given in a general and easily understood format. Results in the plain language summary should not be presented any differently from in the review (i.e. no new results should appear in the summary). Where possible an indication of the number of trials and participants on which the findings are based should be provided.
A comment on any adverse effects.
A brief comment on any limitations of the review (for example trials in very specific populations or poor methods of included trials).
At the end of the plain language summary authors may give web links (for example to other information or decision aids on CRG web sites, providing that these comply with The Cochrane Collaboration policy on web links. Graphs or pictures should not be included in the plain language summary. As with other components of a Cochrane review, plain language summaries should follow the format of the Cochrane Style Guide (available from www.cochrane.org/style).