Umbrella Reviews Evidence Synthesis with Overviews of Reviews and Me
This book is an ideal guide to umbrella reviews, overviews of reviews, and meta-epidemiologic studies for evidence synthesis. Research is conducted at different levels: primary research consists of original studies while secondary research comprises qual
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Umbrella Reviews Evidence Synthesis with Overviews of Reviews and Meta-Epidemiologic Studies
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Umbrella Reviews
Giuseppe Biondi-Zoccai Editor
Umbrella Reviews Evidence Synthesis with Overviews of Reviews and Meta-Epidemiologic Studies
Editor Giuseppe Biondi-Zoccai Department of Medico-Surgical Sciences and Biotechnologies Sapienza University of Rome Latina Italy
ISBN 978-3-319-25653-5 ISBN 978-3-319-25655-9 DOI 10.1007/978-3-319-25655-9
(eBook)
Library of Congress Control Number: 2015960744 Springer Cham Heidelberg New York Dordrecht London © Springer International Publishing Switzerland 2016 This work is subject to copyright. All rights are reserved by the Publisher, whether the whole or part of the material is concerned, specifically the rights of translation, reprinting, reuse of illustrations, recitation, broadcasting, reproduction on microfilms or in any other physical way, and transmission or information storage and retrieval, electronic adaptation, computer software, or by similar or dissimilar methodology now known or hereafter developed. The use of general descriptive names, registered names, trademarks, service marks, etc. in this publication does not imply, even in the absence of a specific statement, that such names are exempt from the relevant protective laws and regulations and therefore free for general use. The publisher, the authors and the editors are safe to assume that the advice and information in this book are believed to be true and accurate at the date of publication. Neither the publisher nor the authors or the editors give a warranty, express or implied, with respect to the material contained herein or for any errors or omissions that may have been made. Printed on acid-free paper Springer International Publishing AG Switzerland is part of Springer Science+Business Media (www.springer.com)
To Giulia, Erica, Gina, and Marzia, the four women of my life
Foreword
Considerate la vostra semenza: fatti non foste a viver come bruti, ma per seguir virtute e canoscenza. Consider ye the seed from which ye sprang; Ye were not made to live like unto brutes, But for pursuit of virtue and of knowledge. Dante Alighieri. “The Divine Comedy – Inferno” in Canto 26:116–118.
Like Ulysses in the Greek mythology, physicians and researchers are destined to endlessly wonder in the search for the truth. Sir Karl Pooper (1902–1994) in his philosophical treaty on Empirical Falsification concludes that “A theory in the empirical sciences can never be proven, but it can be falsified, meaning that it can and should be scrutinized by decisive experiments (designed to test and) contradict the theory.” Given this assumption, it derives that no clinical decision can be irrefutably considered “correct.” So how is a physician to decide when faced with a clinical question or challenge? Paradoxically, if there were two therapeutic strategies that appear equally effective, the physician could risk behaving like the Buridian’s ass which, being equally hungry and thirsty and being placed precisely midway between
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