title: A systematic review of systematic reviews and meta-analyses of animal experiments with guidelines for reporting.
abstract: To maximize the findings of animal experiments to inform likely health effects in humans, a thorough review and evaluation of the animal evidence is required. Systematic reviews and, where appropriate, meta-analyses have great potential in facilitating such an evaluation, making efficient use of the animal evidence while minimizing possible sources of bias. The extent to which systematic review and meta-analysis methods have been applied to evaluate animal experiments to inform human health is unknown. Using systematic review methods, we examine the extent and quality of systematic reviews and meta-analyses of in vivo animal experiments carried out to inform human health. We identified 103 articles meeting the inclusion criteria: 57 reported a systematic review, 29 a systematic review and a meta-analysis, and 17 reported a meta-analysis only. The use of these methods to evaluate animal evidence has increased over time. Although the reporting of systematic reviews is of adequate quality, the reporting of meta-analyses is poor. The inadequate reporting of meta-analyses observed here leads to questions on whether the most appropriate methods were used to maximize the use of the animal evidence to inform policy or decision-making. We recommend that guidelines proposed here be used to help improve the reporting of systematic reviews and meta-analyses of animal experiments. Further consideration of the use and methodological quality and reporting of such studies is needed.
authors.affiliation: Centre for Biostatistics and Genetic Epidemiology, Department of Health Sciences, University of Leicester, Leicester, UK. jlp9@leicester.ac.uk
authors.forename: Jaime L
authors.initials: JL
authors.lastname: Peters
authors.forename: Alex J
authors.initials: AJ
authors.lastname: Sutton
authors.forename: David R
authors.initials: DR
authors.lastname: Jones
authors.forename: Lesley
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Rushton
authors.forename: Keith R
authors.initials: KR
authors.lastname: Abrams
mesh_terms: D032761:Animal Experimentation; D000818:Animals; D017408:Guidelines as Topic; D006801:Humans; D015201:Meta-Analysis as Topic; D012106:Research / Q000592:standards*; D012107:Research Design; D012196:Review Literature as Topic; D009626:Terminology as Topic