Risk of bias in included studies
Cochrane Training resource: assessing RoB included studies and RoB 2.0 webinar
Cochrane Interactive Learning: module 5 - introduction to study quality and risk of bias
| Standard | Rationale and elaboration | Resources | |
| R73 | 'Risk of bias' table | Mandatory | |
| Present at least one ‘Risk of bias’ table for each study that is included in a synthesis, with judgements about risks of bias, and explicit support for these judgements. |
‘Risk of bias’ presentation tools in RevMan should be used wherever possible. MECIR conduct standard 52: Assess the risk of bias for each study result contributing to an outcome in the ‘summary of findings’ table. For randomized trials, the RoB 2 tool should be used, involving judgements and support for those judgements across a series of domains of bias, as described in the Handbook. Also MECIR conduct standards 52 – 60 |
See Handbook Section 7.1.2 and Chapter 8 | |
| R74 | Summary assessments of risk of bias | Highly desirable | |
| Present an overall risk of bias assessment across domains for each key outcome for each included study, and ensure that these are supported by the information presented in the ‘Risk of bias’ tables. | MECIR conduct standard 56: Summarize the risk of bias for each key outcome for each study. | See Handbook Section 7.5 and Chapter 8 | |
| R75 | Risk of bias in included studies | Mandatory | |
| Provide a brief narrative summary of the risks of bias among the included studies. | It may be helpful to identify any studies considered to be at low risk of bias for particular key outcomes. |