title: Systematic reviews to support evidence-based psychiatry: what about schizophrenia?
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To assess whether systematic reviews (SRs), the gold standard for scientific research, can offer valuable support in evidence-based psychiatry in the treatment of schizophrenia.
  
  
  METHODS
  We used three database services (Ovid, PubMed and Cochrane) to identify SRs related to schizophrenia, found 163 reviews and grouped them by topic. We then evaluated each study's conclusions and divided them into three groups based on results (ranging from certain to null conclusions).
  
  
  RESULTS
  SRs of pharmacological treatments represented 59% of the studies sampled, only 23% of which had reached certain conclusions. Other clinical topics were less frequently represented and had achieved lower degrees of certainty.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Only 40 SRs (22 studies investigating pharmacological treatment) provided clear-cut answers to clinical questions examined. Results therefore showed that SRs provide a certain but rather limited contribution to scientific evidence in the field of schizophrenia.
authors.affiliation: Department of Neuroscience, University Federico II, Naples, Italy.
authors.forename: Massimo
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Morlino
authors.forename: Antonio
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Calento
authors.forename: Gennaro
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Pannone
authors.forename: Gianluca
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Ventrella
authors.forename: Vittorio
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Schiavone
mesh_terms: D014150:Antipsychotic Agents / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D019317:Evidence-Based Medicine; D006801:Humans; D012196:Review Literature as Topic; D012559:Schizophrenia / Q000188:drug therapy*
chemical_list: D014150:Antipsychotic Agents