ArticleThe Journal of antimicrobial chemotherapy2025
Systematic reviews and the Journal of Antimicrobial Chemotherapy; past, present and future. A systematic reappraisal.
Article in The Journal of antimicrobial chemotherapy, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. An erratum has been issued. Not yet cited in PubMed.
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
0 citing papers in PubMed.
No citing paper in PubMed yet.
Corrections and comments
- Erratum issued
Authors and funding
1 author.
Funding
Abstract
Since 2003, >200 systematic reviews (SRs) have been published in the Journal of Antimicrobial Chemotherapy (JAC). Many have been widely cited. Guidelines for proper execution were outlined in 2005. Since then, new threats, challenges and methods have emerged. Data provenance is an emerging threat. There are several assumptions and limitations of both SR methods and the primary studies they include. The pivotal impact of these assumptions is illustrated using 13 SRs of pneumonia prevention in ICU patients on inferences towards the aspirational goal of 'Pneumonia zero' as a case study. Depending on these assumptions, the SRs of antimicrobial-based interventions pivot between two not incompatible inferences of pneumonia prevention for individual ICU patients versus harm for ICU populations. The case study highlights how newer methods for data visualization enhance reader insight into the underlying data beyond the summary effect size. To remain relevant to evidence-based medicine, SRs will need to adapt to emerging challenges and to recognize and validate the key underlying assumptions. This is especially so for antimicrobial-based infection prevention interventions given their potential for spillover effects.
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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.