AMSTAR is a popular instrument for critically appraising ONLY systematic reviews of randomised controlled clinical trials ; AMSTAR underwent further development to enable appraisal of systematic reviews of randomised and non-randomised studies of healthcare interventions; What’s new (and not so new) in AMSTAR 2

AMSTAR 2: a critical appraisal tool for systematic reviews that include randomised or non-randomised studies of healthcare interventions, or both. BMJ. 2017 Sep 21;358:j4008.

In an aggregated form such as a table, data from the original studies should be provided on the participants, interventions and outcomes. The ranges of characteristics in all the studies analyzed e.g., age, race, sex, relevant socioeconomic data, disease status, duration, severity, or other diseases should be reported.

Table 1 AMSTAR checklist of methodological characteristics Items Yes Unclear No 1.Was an ‘a priori’ design provided? 26 (5 )0 48 2.Was there duplicate study selection and data extraction? 32 ( 64 )0 18 3.Was a comprehensive literature search performed? 37 (4 )0 1 26 4.Was the status of publication (i.e. grey literature) used as an inclusion

This scale was adapted from the original AMSTAR instrument by the University of Pennsylvania Health System Center for Evidence-based Practice. It was modified to enable more efficient, objective, and reproducible assessments that can be incorporated into rapid systematic reviews. The items are designed to be answered as “Yes” or “No”.

AMSTAR Checklist Check: Yes, No, Can’t answer, or Not applicable; 1. Was an ‘a priori’ design provided? 2. Was there duplicate study selection and data extraction? 3. Was a comprehensive literature search performed? 4. Was the status of publication (i.e. grey literature) used as an inclusion criterion? 5.

Feb 15, 2007 · A measurement tool for the 'assessment of multiple systematic reviews' (AMSTAR) was developed. The tool consists of 11 items and has good face and content validity for measuring the methodological quality of systematic reviews.

AMSTAR 2: a critical appraisal tool for systematic reviews that include randomised or non-randomised studies of healthcare interventions, or both. ( 81 ) For each Yes, 1.0 point was given, and for each Partial Yes, 0.5 points was given.

In an aggregated form such as a table, data from the original studies should be provided on the participants, interventions and outcomes. The ranges of characteristics in all the studies analyzed e.g., age, race, sex, relevant socioeconomic data, disease status, duration, severity, or other diseases should be reported.

Table F-1 shows the AMSTAR (A Measurement Tool to Assess Systematic Reviews) quality assessment for the included systematic reviews. For full study citations, please refer to the report’s main reference list.