Assessing risk of bias in studies that evaluate health care interventions: recommendations in the misinformation age

Abstract

Methods to assess the risk of bias in a way that is reliable, reproducible. and transparent to readers, have evolved over time. Viswanathan et al. recently provided updated recommendations for assessing risk of bias in systematic reviews of health care interventions. We comment on their recommendations and discuss new tools in development that we, as co-convenors and coordinators of the Cochrane Bias Methods Group, are leading, which complement the methods recommended.

Keywords: Bias; Methodology; Nonrandomized studies; Quality; Randomized trials; Systematic reviews.