LOCATING AND APPRAISING SYSTEMATIC REVIEWS

In this article, we describe the strengths and weaknesses of several m ethods of locating systematic reviews, including electronic databases such as MEDLINE, Best Evidence (the electronic version of ACP Journal Club and Evidence-Based Medicine), and the Cochrane Library (a regular ly updated source of reviews and controlled trials produced by the Coc hrane Collaboration). We also present steps that can be used to critic ally appraise review articles; as an example, we use a systematic revi ew that evaluates the gastrointestinal toxicity of various nonsteroida l anti-inflammatory drugs in the context of a clinical scenario.