ArticleEuropean journal of epidemiology2024
From complexity to clarity: how directed acyclic graphs enhance the study design of systematic reviews and meta-analyses.
Article in European journal of epidemiology, 2024. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 8 papers, 2 of them syntheses 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, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.
- Barriers and Facilitators of Tobacco Cessation Interventions at the Population and Healthcare System Levels: A Systematic Literature Review.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2025Pooled it
- Pooled it
- Association between extreme heat exposure and risk of preterm birth and its effect modifiers: a systematic review and meta-analysis.Journal of exposure science & environmental epidemiology · 2026Article
- Construction and Application of Directed Acyclic Graphs in Leading Medical Journals.JAMA network open · 2026Article
- Systematic reviews and the Journal of Antimicrobial Chemotherapy; past, present and future. A systematic reappraisal.The Journal of antimicrobial chemotherapy · 2025Article
- Evidence triangulator: using large language models to extract and synthesize causal evidence across study designs.Nature communications · 2025Article
- Let's DAG in: how directed acyclic graphs can help behavioural ecology be more transparent.Proceedings. Biological sciences · 2025Article
- Article
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
While frameworks to systematically assess bias in systematic reviews and meta-analyses (SRMAs) and frameworks on causal inference are well established, they are less frequently integrated beyond the data analysis stages. This paper proposes the use of Directed Acyclic Graphs (DAGs) in the design stage of SRMAs. We hypothesize that DAGs created and registered a priori can offer a useful approach to more effective and efficient evidence synthesis. DAGs provide a visual representation of the complex assumed relationships between variables within and beyond individual studies prior to data analysis, facilitating discussion among researchers, guiding data analysis, and may lead to more targeted inclusion criteria or set of data extraction items. We illustrate this argument through both experimental and observational case examples.
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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.