PT  - JOURNAL ARTICLE
AU  - Lara Maxwell
AU  - Nancy Santesso
AU  - Peter S Tugwell
AU  - George A Wells
AU  - Maria Judd
AU  - Rachelle Buchbinder
TI  - Method guidelines for Cochrane Musculoskeletal Group systematic reviews.
DP  - 2006 Nov 01
TA  - The Journal of Rheumatology
PG  - 2304--2311
VI  - 33
IP  - 11
4099  - http://www.jrheum.org/content/33/11/2304.short
4100  - http://www.jrheum.org/content/33/11/2304.full
SO  - J Rheumatol2006 Nov 01; 33
AB  - The Cochrane Musculoskeletal Group (CMSG), one of 50 groups of the not-for-profit international Cochrane Collaboration, prepares, maintains, and disseminates systematic reviews of treatments for musculoskeletal diseases. To enhance the quality and usability of systematic reviews, the CMSG has developed tailored methodological guidelines for authors of CMSG systematic reviews. Recommendations specific to musculoskeletal disorders are provided for various aspects of undertaking a systematic review, including literature searching, inclusion criteria, quality assessment, grading of evidence, data collection, and data analysis. These guidelines will help researchers design, conduct, and report results of systematic reviews of trials in the following fields of musculoskeletal health: gout, osteoarthritis, osteoporosis, pediatric rheumatology, rheumatoid arthritis, soft tissue rheumatism, spondyloarthropathy, systemic lupus erythematosus, systemic sclerosis, and vasculitis. Systematic reviews need to be conducted according to high methodological standards. These recommendations on developing and performing a systematic review will help improve consistency among CMSG reviews.