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