Help develop Cochrane guidance for assessing risk of bias in non-randomised studies of interventions

Posted on 7 December 2021 by Ella Flemyng (Methods Implementation Manager)

Earlier this year we announced five methods projects to tackle methodological challenges faced by authors of public health intervention reviews. Why the focus on public health, how the work will support review production and details about the five projects and why they were selected is available in this previous news post.

One of the projects was practical conduct and reporting guidance for using the ROBINS-I (Risk Of Bias In Non-randomised Studies of Interventions) tool.

The guidance was developed by Cochrane’s Methods Support Unit with input from some of Cochrane Methods Groups, and we are now looking for feedback on its usability and helpfulness. 

Full details and how to submit is detailed in this Methodology Task Exchange task. Essentially, you can either comment on a Word version and send it to Kerry Dwan, Methods Support Unit Lead and Statistical Editor (kdwan@cochrane.org), or you can respond to these questions as comments on the task page:

  • Is there anything in the guidance that’s unclear?
  • Is there anything missing in the guidance, e.g., other guidance, training or resources you’re aware of?
  • Are the protocol and review checklists understandable and would they be useful in your role (please specify if you are an author, editor or other role)?
  • Any other comments that would help authors or editors?

If you have experience using non-randomised studies of interventions in systematic reviews and/or ROBINS-I, please do let us know what you think. Deadline for feedback is 31 January 2022.