ArticleJournal of epidemiology and community health2005
Systematic reviews of health effects of social interventions: 1. Finding the evidence: how far should you go?
Article in Journal of epidemiology and community health, 2005. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 40 papers, 10 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
40 citing papers in PubMed, 10 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.
- Do Interventions Reducing Social Vulnerability Improve Health in Community Dwelling Older Adults? A Systematic Review.Clinical interventions in aging · 2022Pooled it
- Are workplace health promotion programmes effective for all socioeconomic groups? A systematic review.Occupational and environmental medicine · 2020Pooled it
- Weighing up the evidence: a systematic review of the effectiveness of workplace interventions to tackle socio-economic inequalities in obesity.Journal of public health (Oxford, England) · 2015Pooled it
- Is socioeconomic status associated with biological aging as measured by telomere length?Epidemiologic reviews · 2013Pooled it
- Assessing the social and physical determinants of circumpolar population health.International journal of circumpolar health · 2013Pooled it
- Checking reference lists to find additional studies for systematic reviews.The Cochrane database of systematic reviews · 2011Pooled it
- Depressive symptoms and their social contexts: a qualitative systematic literature review of contextual interventions.The International journal of social psychiatry · 2011Pooled it
- Flexible working conditions and their effects on employee health and wellbeing.The Cochrane database of systematic reviews · 2010Pooled it
- Interventions to promote cancer awareness and early presentation: systematic review.British journal of cancer · 2009Pooled it
- A systematic review of the health, social and financial impacts of welfare rights advice delivered in healthcare settings.BMC public health · 2006Pooled it
- The value of adding 'grey literature' in evidence synthesis for equity-driven global health: a case study from Small Island Developing States.BMJ global health · 2026Article
- Searching for studies: A guide to information retrieval for Campbell systematic reviews.Campbell systematic reviews · 2024Article
- Evaluating the effectiveness, efficiency, cost and value of contacting study authors in a systematic review: a case study and worked example.BMC medical research methodology · 2019Article
- Defining the process to literature searching in systematic reviews: a literature review of guidance and supporting studies.BMC medical research methodology · 2018Review
- Optimal literature search for systematic reviews in surgery.Langenbeck's archives of surgery · 2018Review
- GRADE equity guidelines 2: considering health equity in GRADE guideline development: equity extension of the guideline development checklist.Journal of clinical epidemiology · 2017Article
- Optimizing literature search in systematic reviews - are MEDLINE, EMBASE and CENTRAL enough for identifying effect studies within the area of musculoskeletal disorders?BMC medical research methodology · 2016Article
- Searching and synthesising 'grey literature' and 'grey information' in public health: critical reflections on three case studies.Systematic reviews · 2016Article
- The contribution of databases to the results of systematic reviews: a cross-sectional study.BMC medical research methodology · 2016Article
- Searching for qualitative research for inclusion in systematic reviews: a structured methodological review.Systematic reviews · 2016Review
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
4 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
STUDY
objectiveThere is little guidance on how to identify useful evidence about the health effects of social interventions. The aim of this study was to assess the value of different ways of finding this type of information.
designRetrospective analysis of the sources of studies for one systematic review.
settingCase study of a systematic review of the effectiveness of interventions in promoting a population shift from using cars towards walking and cycling. MAIN
resultsOnly four of the 69 relevant studies were found in a "first-line" health database such as Medline. About half of all relevant studies were found through the specialist Transport database. Nine relevant studies were found through purposive internet searches and seven relevant studies were found by chance. The unique contribution of experts was not to identify additional studies, but to provide more information about those already found in the literature.
conclusionsMost of the evidence needed for this review was not found in studies indexed in familiar literature databases. Applying a sensitive search strategy across multiple databases and interfaces is very labour intensive. Retrospective analysis suggests that a more efficient method might have been to search a few key resources, then to ask authors and experts directly for the most robust reports of studies identified. However, internet publications and serendipitous discoveries did make a significant contribution to the total set of relevant evidence. Undertaking a comprehensive search may provide unique evidence and insights that would not be obtained using a more focused search.
Indexed as
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What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.