The concept of preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta Analyses (PRISMA)
statement was first published in the year 2009, with an intent to enhance the clarity,
transparency, quality as well as value of the reports. Since then, it has earned not just
acceptance but become extremely popular in the research and publication of systematic reviews
and Meta Analyses. Most of the reputed journals instruct authors to incorporate in their research
techniques.
PRISMA is a rigorous process which collates all the empirical evidence which is applicable to
the pre-defined set of eligibility criteria. It addresses specific hypothesis. Systematic reviews
benefit the researcher by having the ability to offer clear as well as reliable conclusions so that
vast amount of information can be conveyed and at the same time reduce the introduction of
any kind of bias. In addition to that, meta-analysis offers the opportunity to do a critical
assessment as well as give a comprehensive and clear pool of results which aims to increase
statistical power. The studies involving meta-analysis critically evaluates the comprehensive
pool of results of lot of comparable trials with the intent of statistical power.
Because of the objective to do a comprehensive appraisal, the information being presented is
not just clear but at the same time transparent as well as complete. To ensure this kind of
transparency and the consistency of reports, the Quality of Reporting of Meta Analysis
(QUOROM) guidelines were initially also drafted and later updated by the PRISMA statement.
The complete PRISMA statement consists of a 27-item checklist and a flow diagram in addition
to that. All of this is accessible on its website. The website also has explanatory document
which gives examples from already published work addressing each of the items on the
checklist. Though the checklist isn’t an instrument for quality assessment, it sure is a valuable
template for authors to be able to utilize at the time of systematic reviews, especially the
explanatory document that gives the examples from published work which addresses each of
the items that are there in the items given on the list. Despite the fact that the checklist isn’t an
instrument for quality assessment, it is an extremely important and worthy template for
researchers when applying systematic reviews.
Let us look at the four stages of the PRISMA Flow diagram
The work described in the flow diagram is divided into 4 stages:
- Identifying the articles for review
- Screening the articles for review
- Deciding on the studies’ eligibility
- Finalizing the list of studies to include in the systematic review
