SynthesisJournal of clinical epidemiology2022
Sankey diagrams can clarify 'evidence attrition': A systematic review and meta-analysis of the effectiveness of rapid diagnostic tests for antimicrobial resistance.
Synthesis in Journal of clinical epidemiology, 2022. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 8 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
What it found
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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.
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Who cites it
8 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 21 citations in OpenAlex.
- Efficacy of advancement treatments of the stomatognathic system on objective sleepiness in OSA: a systematic review.Journal of clinical sleep medicine : JCSM : official publication of the American Academy of Sleep Medicine · 2025Pooled it
- Distribution analysis of gynecological carcinomas with concurrent second primary carcinomas.Frontiers in oncology · 2026Article
- Clinical Symptom Resolution Following PCR-Guided vs. Culture and Susceptibility-Guided Management of Complicated UTI: How Time-To-Antibiotic Start and Antibiotic Appropriateness Mediate the Benefit of Multiplex PCR-An Ad Hoc Analysis of NCT06996301.Diagnostics (Basel, Switzerland) · 2025Article
- Genotype-Phenotype Concordance and Ct-Informed Predictive Rules for Antimicrobial Resistance in Adult Patients with Complicated Urinary Tract Infections: Clinical and Stewardship Implications from the NCT06996301 Trial.Diagnostics (Basel, Switzerland) · 2025Article
- Semi-Quantitative ΔCt Thresholds for Bacteriuria and Pre-Analytic Drivers of PCR-Culture Discordance in Complicated UTI: An Analysis of NCT06996301.Diagnostics (Basel, Switzerland) · 2025Article
- Article
- The role of corruption in global food systems: a systematic scoping review.Globalization and health · 2024Article
- Evolution and current state of research into E-learning.Heliyon · 2023Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
6 authors at 2 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
objectivesTo demonstrate, using the example of a new systematic review of rapid diagnostic tests, how Sankey diagrams, alongside the PRISMA guidelines, can (i) facilitate reporting of the quality of the evidence base and (ii) help assess evidence syntheses when studies use heterogeneous outcomes.
methodsSystematic review and meta-analysis of experimental and observational studies which included at least one prescribing or clinical outcome of RDTs in hospital in-patients. Sub-group analysis was used to assess heterogeneity in summary effect estimates. A Sankey diagram was then used to show the pattern and quality of evidence on RDT outcomes.
results57 studies from 14 countries were included. The introduction of RDTs did not significantly reduce in-hospital mortality (RR 0.83, 95% CI 0.60 - 1.15) or length of stay (weighted mean difference = -0.36, 95% CI -1.67 to 0.96). There was high heterogeneity in outcomes.
conclusionThere is no clear evidence that the routine use of RDTs for bacterial identification and antibiotic susceptibility testing improves clinical outcomes in hospital in-patients. Sankey diagrams may be a useful further way succinctly to present the pattern and quality of evidence in systematic reviews, especially when it is heterogeneous and not easily amenable to meta-analysis.
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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.