Systematic Review

At this stage, you have to carry out an assessment of the risk of bias in each included study. This process is called Critical Appraisal, or known as "quality assessment" or "risk of bias assessment."  This page lists out the critical appraisal tools/checklists for the following types of study design: 

• randomized controlled trials,
• non-randomized controlled trials,
• qualitative & qualitative research,
• mixed methods studies,
• prognostic studies,
• diagnostic accuracy studies,
• and systematic reviews.

• Best Bets Critical Appraisal Worksheets
• Centre for Evidence Based Medicine (CEBM) Randomised Controlled Trials Critical Appraisal Sheet 
• Cochrane Library’s RoB 2 Tool - a revised tool for risk of bias in randomized trials. Versions include:
  • RoB 2 for individually-randomized, parallel-group trials
  • RoB 2 for cluster-randomized trials
  • RoB 2 for crossover trial 
• Critical Appraisals Skills Programme (CASP) Checklist - a set of 8 appraisal checklists designed for use with with Systematic Reviews, Randomised Controlled Trials, Cohort Studies, Case Control Studies, Economic Evaluations, Diagnostic Studies, Qualitative studies and Clinical Prediction Rule.
• Joanna Briggs Institute (JBI)’s Critical Appraisal Tools - evaluate cross-sectional, case control, case reports, case series, cohort, diagnostic test accuracy, economic evaluations, prevalence, qualitative, quasi-experimental, randomized controlled trials, and systematic reviews.
• SIGN Critical Appraisal Checklists - Methodology checklists for systematic reviews and meta-analyses, randomised controlled trials, cohort studies, case-control studies, diagnostic studies, and economic studies.

• Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) - methodological checklist for cross-sectional/prevalence studies.
• Best Bets Critical Appraisal Worksheets
• Cochrane's ROBINS-I (The Risk Of Bias In Non-randomized Studies – of Interventions) assessment tool - evaluates cohort studies, quasi-randomized trials, case-control studies, cross-sectional studies, interrupted time series, and controlled before-after studies. 
• Critical Appraisals Skills Programme (CASP) Checklist - a set of 8 appraisal checklists designed for use with with systematic reviews, randomised controlled trials, cohort studies, case control studies, economic evaluations, diagnostic studies, qualitative studies and clinical prediction rule.
• Institute of Health Economics (IHE) 's Case Series Studies Quality Appraisal Checklist
• Joanna Briggs Institute (JBI)’s Critical Appraisal Tools - evaluate cross-sectional, case control, case reports, case series, cohort, diagnostic test accuracy, economic evaluations, prevalence, qualitative, quasi-experimental, randomized controlled trials, and systematic reviews.
• Newcastle-Ottawa scale (NOS) - most widely used for case control or cohort studies.
• SIGN Critical Appraisal Checklists - methodology checklists for systematic reviews and meta-analyses, randomised controlled trials, cohort studies, case-control studies, diagnostic studies, and economic studies.
• STROBE checklists for observational studies - guidelines for checking the quality of cohort, case-control, cross-sectional studies and conference abstracts.

• Centre for Evidence Based Medicine (CEBM) - critical appraisal for prognosis studies.
• PROBAST
• The Cochrane Prognosis Methods Group - provides tools and guidance to perform a systematic review of prognosis studies.

• Centre for Evidence Based Medicine (CEBM) Diagnosis Critical Appraisal Worksheet  
• Critical Appraisals Skills Programme (CASP) Diagnostic Study Checklist
• QUADAS-2 - for use in systematic reviews to evaluate the risk of bias and applicability of primary diagnostic accuracy studies. 

• AHRQ-Assessing the Risk of Bias in Systematic Reviews of Healthcare Interventions
• AMSTAR 2: A Critical Appraisal Tool for Systematic Reviews - for reviews that include randomised and/or non-randomised studies of healthcare interventions.
• Critical Appraisals Skills Programme (CASP) Systematic Review Checklist
• Centre for Evidence Based Medicine (CEBM) Systematic Reviews Critical Appraisal Sheet
• Joanna Briggs Institute (JBI) ’s Critical Appraisal Tools - checklist for systematic reviews.
• ROBIS - a tool for assessing the risk of bias in systematic reviews.