As the number of studies in the literature is increasing, orthopaedic surgeons rely heavily on meta-analyses as their primary source of scientific evidence. The objectives of this review were to assess the scientific quality and number of published meta-analyses on orthopaedic-related topics over time. We conducted, in duplicate and independently, a systematic review of published meta-analyses in orthopaedics in the years 2005 and 2008 and compared them with a previous systematic review of meta-analyses from 1969-1999. A search of electronic databases (Medline, EMBASE, and the Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews (CDSR)) was performed to identify meta-analyses published in 2005 and 2008. We searched bibliographies and contacted content experts to identify additional relevant studies. Two investigators used the Oxman and Guyatt Index to assess the quality of the studies and abstracted relevant data.Background
Methods
