Termin: jeden vierten Mittwoch im Monat

Online-Seminar: Der entsprechende Zoom-Link wurde Ihnen bereits von der Dozentin zugeschickt.

Seminar prerequisites
Knowledge of basic concepts in epidemiology and statistics

Short description
Systematic reviews and meta-analyses present results by combining and analyzing data from different studies based on a specific research topics. In recent years, systematic reviews and meta-analyses have been actively used in epidemiology and other health research fields. This seminar will introduce the students to the main principles, uses and methods used to perform systematic reviews, evidence synthesis and meta-analyses of various epidemiological studies in the context of evidence-based health research.
The topics range from formulating an adequate and scientifically relevant research question to understanding the steps in conducting a systematic review. The students will learn how to define inclusion and exclusion criteria, conduct literature search, extract data, conduct methodological assessment of study quality and risk of bias, perform a meta-analysis and interpret relevant summary statistics, evaluate publication bias and report results taking overall research context into account. They will also learn about the various guidelines for conducting systematic reviews and meta-analyses and how to use them to improve quality of their planned reviews.

The seminar will be practice-oriented and interactive with a mixture of lectures, class exercises and discussions, as well as group and individual exercises.
Upon successfully completing this course, participants will be able to:
- Outline the role of systematic reviews and meta-analyses in the research process
- Develop and formulate answerable research questions
- Plan the required steps in conducting a systematic review
- Have knowledge about how to collect and extract data from various epidemiological studies
- Describe methods to critically assess the study quality and evaluate the risk of bias
- Use and interpret the results of systematic reviews and meta-analyses in the context of epidemiology and health research.

Recommended reading: Introduction to Meta‐Analysis-2nd Edition. 2009. Author(s):Michael Borenstein, Larry V. Hedges, Julian P. T. Higgins, Hannah R. Rothstein. DOI:10.1002/9780470743386
Further materials and suggested readings will be provided during the course.

Course requirements

In-class exercises and discussions: Students will be asked to read various articles that provide examples of various systematic reviews and meta-analyses. The students will briefly present the studies using a list of predefined questions. They should learn to address the appropriateness the research question, the methodological aspects related to the used study design, and data analysis/interpretation.

Final project: Planning a systematic review addressing a particular research question
The students can make a choice for conducting a systematic review and/or meta-analysis addressing a specific research question in epidemiology and public health. Using the guidelines of the preselected journals, they will plan and conduct a literature review in which they should clearly present the research question and identify gaps and existing inconsistencies that need to be addressed by the review. They will suggest a strategy for collecting the literature and appropriate methods and data presentation. The students should show that they can clearly describe the research question, provide justification and supporting literature; critically appraise quality of the study designs and apply risk of bias assessment, as well as demonstrate critical thinking.
Final presentation: Each student will present their final work as a 20 minute presentation + 5-10 min discussion.