1. Critical appraisal: Checklists
Dr. S. A. Rizwan, M.D.
Public Health Specialist
SBCM, Joint Program – Riyadh
Ministry of Health, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia

2. Learning objectives
Critical appraisal of health literature SBCM, Joint Program – Riyadh
• Describe the role of checklists in critically
appraise of a research article
• Describe the difference between checklists and
critical appraisal
• Describe advantages and limitations of checklist
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3. Introduction
Critical appraisal of health literature SBCM, Joint Program – Riyadh
• Reporting guidelines checklist
• An instrument which ensures that all studies
of a particular design report all the essential
items
• Enables the reader to make complete sense
of the study
• Standardises the reporting of findings
• Enables a valid critical appraisal to be done
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4. Introduction
Critical appraisal of health literature SBCM, Joint Program – Riyadh
• Critical appraisal
• It is a process which enables the reader to
determine whether what has been reported
is right or wrong, truthful or not.
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5. Section 1: RCTs
Critical appraisal of health literature SBCM, Joint Program – Riyadh

6. Reporting guidelines
Critical appraisal of health literature SBCM, Joint Program – Riyadh
• Whether details are mentioned or not?
(intentional or unintentional?)
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7. Critical appraisal: Cochrane tool
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8. Example of Cochrane ROB tool
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9. Critical appraisal: Non-Cochrane tool
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10. Section 2:
Case control,
cohort, cross-
sectional studies
Critical appraisal of health literature SBCM, Joint Program – Riyadh

11. Reporting guidelines
Critical appraisal of health literature SBCM, Joint Program – Riyadh
• Whether details are mentioned or not?
(intentional or unintentional?)
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12. Critical appraisal tools
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A Cochrane Risk Of Bias Assessment Tool: for Non-
Randomized Studies of Interventions (ACROBAT-NRSI)

13. ACROBAT-NRSI (7 domains)
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14. Example of ACROBAT NRSI tool
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15. Example of ACROBAT NRSI tool
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16. Section 3:
Case series, case
reports
Critical appraisal of health literature SBCM, Joint Program – Riyadh

17. Reporting guidelines
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18. Critical appraisal tools
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For case reports
For case series

19. CEBM tool for case report
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20. Carey et al tool for case series
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21. Section 4:
Animal studies
Critical appraisal of health literature SBCM, Joint Program – Riyadh

22. Reporting guidelines
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23. Critical appraisal tools
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SYRCLE tool

24. SYstematic Review Centre for Laboratory animal
Experimentation tool
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25. Take home messages
Critical appraisal of health literature SBCM, Joint Program – Riyadh
• Reporting guidelines compel the authors to stick
to a standard format
• However, they do not ensure validity and
reliability of the study findings
• For this critical appraisal tools are required
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26. Thank you!
Email your queries to sarizwan1986@outlook.com