Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis: Evidence-Based Decision-Making in Public Health

The public health world is increasingly becoming an analytical place, and with increases in the availability of existing literature, drawing evidence-based conclusions requires important knowledge and skills. This chapter discusses the importance of evidence-based decision-making and the critical considerations and limitations of conducting systematic reviews and meta-analyses. Additionally, this chapter discusses important considerations for the quality assessment of articles, step-by-step procedures for conducting systematic reviews and meta-analyses, and some practical examples. Specifically, the objectives of this chapter are as follows: (i) understanding the importance of evidence-based decision-making in public health; (ii) acquiring knowledge about biases, complexities, and limitations for the conduct of systematic review and meta-analyses studies; and (iii) assimilating the analytical approaches involved in the conduct of meta-analysis. The most important topics of this chapter are differences between advocacy and analysis, quality assessment of peer-reviewed and grey literature, consideration of publication bias and winner’s curse, and implications and ethical challenges associated with the use of emerging artificial intelligence software for evidence-based decision-making in public health. The information in this chapter could be used for evidence-based decision-making in public health surveillance programs, prevention of diseases, assessment of health status, health protection and promotion, emergency response and preparedness, and for regulatory regimes and designing public health education programs.