Offline: The gravy train of systematic reviews.

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

12 citing papers in PubMed, 6 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.

1. Cerebrolysin for acute ischaemic stroke.The Cochrane database of systematic reviews · 2023
   Pooled it
2. Do we need to improve the reporting of evidence in tendinopathy management? A critical appraisal of systematic reviews with recommendations on strength of evidence assessment.BMJ open sport & exercise medicine · 2021
   Pooled it
3. Exercise/physical activity and health outcomes: an overview of Cochrane systematic reviews.BMC public health · 2020
   Pooled it
4. Single-Item Self-Report Measures of Team-Sport Athlete Wellbeing and Their Relationship With Training Load: A Systematic Review.Journal of athletic training · 2020
   Pooled it
5. Cerebrolysin for acute ischaemic stroke.The Cochrane database of systematic reviews · 2020
   Pooled it
6. Olive oil intake and cancer risk: A systematic review and meta-analysis.PloS one
   Pooled it
7. Acetylcysteine has No Mechanistic Effect in Patients at Risk of Contrast-Induced Nephropathy: A Failure of Academic Clinical Science.Clinical pharmacology and therapeutics · 2022
   Trial
8. Exercise for the intervertebral disc: a 6-month randomised controlled trial in chronic low back pain.European spine journal : official publication of the European Spine Society, the European Spinal Deformity Society, and the European Section of the Cervical Spine Research Society · 2020
   Trial
9. Experiences from conducting systematic reviews of systematic reviews.BMC medical research methodology · 2026
   Article
10. Risk Factors and Cumulative Incidence of Cystoid Macular Edema After Simple Cataract Surgery: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.Cureus · 2025
    Review
11. Reliability of the evidence to guide decision-making in foot ulcer prevention in diabetes: an overview of systematic reviews.BMC medical research methodology · 2022
    Review
12. Are sexual health survey items understood as intended by African and Asian migrants to Australia? Methods, results and recommendations for qualitative pretesting.BMJ open · 2021
    Article

Corrections and comments

• Commented on by
  Doing meaningful systematic reviews is no gravy train.2020
• Commented on by
  Doing meaningful systematic reviews is no gravy train.2020

Authors and funding

1 author.

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

Abstract

PubMed holds no abstract for this paper.