A nephrology guide to reading and using systematic reviews of randomized trials

Abstract

Conscientious integration of the best available evidence in the care of an individual patient could be challenging for a busy clinician. A well-conducted systematic review can adequately inform not only the clinicians, but also the policy makers and researchers about the benefits and risks of a particular intervention. In this article, we describe how to critically appraise the methods and interpret the results of a systematic review of interventional trials and apply the findings of a systematic review to the clinical questions.