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Dissemination Bias in Systematic Reviews of Animal Research: A Systematic Review

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  • Katharina F Mueller
  • Matthias Briel
  • Daniel Strech
  • Joerg J Meerpohl
  • Britta Lang
  • Edith Motschall
  • Viktoria Gloy
  • Francois Lamontagne
  • Dirk Bassler

Abstract

Background: Systematic reviews of preclinical studies, in vivo animal experiments in particular, can influence clinical research and thus even clinical care. Dissemination bias, selective dissemination of positive or significant results, is one of the major threats to validity in systematic reviews also in the realm of animal studies. We conducted a systematic review to determine the number of published systematic reviews of animal studies until present, to investigate their methodological features especially with respect to assessment of dissemination bias, and to investigate the citation of preclinical systematic reviews on clinical research. Methods: Eligible studies for this systematic review constitute systematic reviews that summarize in vivo animal experiments whose results could be interpreted as applicable to clinical care. We systematically searched Ovid Medline, Embase, ToxNet, and ScienceDirect from 1st January 2009 to 9th January 2013 for eligible systematic reviews without language restrictions. Furthermore we included articles from two previous systematic reviews by Peters et al. and Korevaar et al. Results: The literature search and screening process resulted in 512 included full text articles. We found an increasing number of published preclinical systematic reviews over time. The methodological quality of preclinical systematic reviews was low. The majority of preclinical systematic reviews did not assess methodological quality of the included studies (71%), nor did they assess heterogeneity (81%) or dissemination bias (87%). Statistics quantifying the importance of clinical research citing systematic reviews of animal studies showed that clinical studies referred to the preclinical research mainly to justify their study or a future study (76%). Discussion: Preclinical systematic reviews may have an influence on clinical research but their methodological quality frequently remains low. Therefore, systematic reviews of animal research should be critically appraised before translating them to a clinical context.

Suggested Citation

  • Katharina F Mueller & Matthias Briel & Daniel Strech & Joerg J Meerpohl & Britta Lang & Edith Motschall & Viktoria Gloy & Francois Lamontagne & Dirk Bassler, 2014. "Dissemination Bias in Systematic Reviews of Animal Research: A Systematic Review," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 9(12), pages 1-15, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:plo:pone00:0116016
    DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0116016
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Steve Perrin, 2014. "Preclinical research: Make mouse studies work," Nature, Nature, vol. 507(7493), pages 423-425, March.
    2. Carol Kilkenny & William J Browne & Innes C Cuthill & Michael Emerson & Douglas G Altman, 2010. "Improving Bioscience Research Reporting: The ARRIVE Guidelines for Reporting Animal Research," PLOS Biology, Public Library of Science, vol. 8(6), pages 1-5, June.
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    1. Rannapaula Lawrynhuk Urbano Ferreira & Ângela Waleska Freire de Sousa & Antonio Gouveia Oliveira & Adriana Augusto de Rezende & Ricardo Ney Cobucci & Lucia Fatima Campos Pedrosa, 2022. "Effects of selenium supplementation on glycemic control markers in healthy rodents: A systematic review protocol," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 17(4), pages 1-9, April.
    2. Victoria T Hunniford & Joshua Montroy & Dean A Fergusson & Marc T Avey & Kimberley E Wever & Sarah K McCann & Madison Foster & Grace Fox & Mackenzie Lafreniere & Mira Ghaly & Sydney Mannell & Karolina, 2021. "Epidemiology and reporting characteristics of preclinical systematic reviews," PLOS Biology, Public Library of Science, vol. 19(5), pages 1-17, May.

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