The Cochrane Library is a collection of databases containing high-quality, independent evidence pertinent to healthcare decision-making. A major component of the Cochrane Library is the Cochrane reviews, these represent the highest level of evidence available for guiding decisions on clinical treatment. In addition to Cochrane reviews, the Library provides other sources of information, including abstracts of other systematic reviews, technology assessments, economic evaluations, and publications on individual clinical trials – all the current evidence at a single site.

What is a systematic review?

Systematic reviews are used to look at all the scientific evidence available on a particular topic, summarising the results from all the research that exists and to answer a specific question in an objective, transparent and systematic way. Statistical methods (meta-analysis) may or may not be used to analyse and summarise the results of the included studies.