Introduction to Umbrella Reviews: Conducting a Review of Reviews

Umbrella reviews, sometimes referred to as review of reviews, are a review of other published systematic reviews and meta-analyses and are appearing more frequently in scientific literature. Umbrella reviews appropriately address a broad question on a topic when there are plenty of published reviews already available. The benefits of conducting an umbrella review are to help synthesize the evidence for decision making in healthcare and explore inconsistencies and biases. This introductory class will share best practices and review the methodological steps required to conduct a rigorous, effective umbrella review.