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The Cochrane Library is a collection of
resources that can help practitioners and consumers access reliable up-to-date
information about effectiveness. Cochrane reviews represent the highest
level of evidence on which to base clinical treatment decisions. In addition
to Cochrane reviews, the Cochrane Library provides many other sources of
reliable information (trials, technology assessments, economic evaluations).
The first three resources are likely to be the most useful.
Clinicians
and consumers may be most interested in these databases:
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Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews (CDSR;
Cochrane Reviews)
A rapidly growing list of regularly updated summaries of the best
available evidence prepared by members of the Cochrane Collaboration.
> more
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Database of Abstracts of Reviews of Effects
(DARE; Other Reviews)
Other published reviews prepared by people outside of the Cochrane
Collaboration.
> more
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Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials
(CENTRAL; Clinical Trials)
Where to look if you want to track down the original studies –
the largest single source of controlled trials.
> more
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These databases contain information of particular interest to researchers
and policy-makers:
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Cochrane Methodology Register (CMR; Methods
Studies)
As exciting as it sounds! Where to find studies which look at the
science of systematic reviewing.
>more
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Health Technology Assessment Database (HTA;
Technology Assessments)
An international collection of health technology assessments.
> more
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NHS Economic Evaluation Database (NHSEED;
Economic Evaluations)
International economic evaluations of health care interventions.
> more
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About the Cochrane Collaboration (About)
Where to look for information about Cochrane review groups and other
activities of the Cochrane Collaboration.
>
more
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The reviews are presented in
two sections:
Complete reviews – over 3500 full-text articles reviewing
the effects of specific health care interventions. The reviews are
highly structured and systematic, with evidence included or excluded
on the basis of explicit quality criteria, to minimise bias. Data
are often combined statistically (in what is called a meta-analysis)
to increase the power of the findings of numerous studies, each too
small to produce reliable results individually.
Protocols – information about reviews in preparation,
including the background, rationale and methods.
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DARE includes structured abstracts
of over 8000 systematic reviews from around the world, which have
been evaluated by researchers at the Centre for Reviews and Dissemination
in the UK. Only reviews which meet minimum quality criteria are included
in DARE. Many of these reviews cover topics that have yet to be addressed
in Cochrane reviews.
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CENTRAL is the Cochrane Collaboration's
register of controlled trials. The register provides bibliographic
information (i.e. abstracts rather than full-text) on over 530,000
reports of trials identified by contributors to the Cochrane Collaboration.
CENTRAL provides individual review authors with easy and reliable
access to the maximum possible number of trials relevant to their
review topic. Trials are identified from multiple sources, including
searches of bibliographic databases, handsearches of many hundreds
of journals and conference proceedings, and searches of other trial
registers. Since the overriding aim is to create an unbiased source
of data for systematic reviews, all known controlled trials are included
in CENTRAL irrespective of language of publication or where and when
the studies were conducted.
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Intended for those who want to
investigate a particular area or method relating to the science of
systematic reviews. CMR is a rapidly expanding register of over 10,000
published reports of empirical studies of methods used in reviews.
Similar to the trials register, CMR is intended to provide those doing
Cochrane methodology reviews with easy access to the maximum number
of relevant studies.
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Many organisations and government
agencies around the world carry out health technology assessments.
These assessments look at the medical, social, ethical and economic
implications of health technologies (e.g. pharmaceuticals, vaccines,
medical and surgical procedures) with a view to informing policy decisions.
The HTA database contains 4000 records of completed and ongoing assessments
from members of INAHTA – the International Network of Agencies
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Because health care resources are finite, decision-makers
are becoming increasingly aware that information on costs needs to
be considered alongside information on effectiveness. This database
contains 14,000 published economic evaluations of health care interventions
from around the world, and is maintained by the
Centre for Reviews and Dissemination in the UK. A large proportion
of these economic evaluations have been quality assessed and include
a structured summary that outlines the practical implications.
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This section of the Library gives
detailed information on the many individual entities from around the
world that co-ordinate the work of the Cochrane Collaboration. Here,
for example, you’ll find information about each of the 52 Cochrane
review groups, including the location of their editorial base, the
range of topics the group covers, a list of contributors, sources
of funding and how to contact them.
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Once you’ve logged on to the Cochrane Library, you can find more
detailed information on the different databases by selecting More
Info or Product Descriptions on the opening
screen.
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