title: Methods for a systematic review of pneumococcal conjugate vaccine dosing schedules.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Streptococcus pneumoniae causes a considerable amount of morbidity and mortality in children <5. However, pneumococcal conjugate vaccines (PCVs) can prevent much of this burden. Until recently, PCVs were mostly available only in developed countries using a variety of dosing schedules. As more lower income countries make decisions to introduce PCV into their national immunization programs, an optimal schedule with which to administer PCV has become a key policy question.
  
  
  METHODS
  We performed a systematic review of English literature published from 1994 to 2010 on the effects of PCV dosing schedules on immunogenicity, nasopharyngeal carriage, invasive pneumococcal disease and pneumonia. Data were independently double abstracted and cleaned for analysis. Descriptive analyses were performed.
  
  
  RESULTS
  We identified 12,980 citations from the literature search (12,976) and secondary means (44). Double review of titles and abstracts yielded 769 articles that underwent full data abstraction. Of these, 350 were further analyzed and are presented in separate reports in this supplement.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  This article presents the methods utilized in our systematic review. Because of the heterogenity of the study methods of the reports identified by this review, we did not conduct formal meta-analyses. However, these methods allow us to present a full landscape of the literature on PCV dosing schedules.
authors: From the *Respiratory Diseases Branch, Division of Bacterial Diseases, National Center for Immunizations and Respiratory Diseases, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta, GA; †International Vaccine Access Center, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Baltimore, MD; ‡Epidemic Intelligence Service, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta, GA; §Westat Inc., Rockville, MD; ¶Biostatistics Consulting, Chicago, IL; and ‖Institute of Child Health, University College London, London, United Kingdom.
authors: Jennifer D
authors: JD
authors: Loo
authors: Laura
authors: L
authors: Conklin
authors: Maria
authors: M
authors: Deloria Knoll
authors: Katherine E
authors: KE
authors: Fleming-Dutra
authors: Daniel E
authors: DE
authors: Park
authors: Jennifer
authors: J
authors: Kirk
authors: T Scott
authors: TS
authors: Johnson
authors: David
authors: D
authors: Goldblatt
authors: Katherine L
authors: KL
authors: O'Brien
authors: Cynthia G
authors: CG
authors: Whitney
mesh_terms: D002675:Child, Preschool; D057225:Data Mining / Q000379:methods*; D006801:Humans; D007115:Immunization Schedule; D007223:Infant; D011008:Pneumococcal Infections / Q000517:prevention & control*; D022242:Pneumococcal Vaccines / Q000008:administration & dosage*; D018074:Vaccines, Conjugate / Q000008:administration & dosage
chemical_list: D022242:Pneumococcal Vaccines; D018074:Vaccines, Conjugate