A scientific article recently published on the JAMA Network Open scientific journal revealed that the L·OVE Platform was able to identify more primary studies on imaging findings in children with COVID-19 than any of the systematic reviews identified for the same subject.
The study, elaborated by MD Giordano Pérez-Gaxiola and MD Iván Flores, was co-authored by some members of the methodologists team of Epistemonikos Foundation and raised the research question “what is the spectrum and frequency of imaging findings in children with COVID-19?” to find how much evidence synthesis is affected by systematic reviews duplicity, and how quickly these reviews become obsolete, revealing the shortcomings of the conventional syntesis method. This issue becomes especially relevant in these times of pandemic and amount of evidence production never seen before.
“The most important thing in this analysis” explains Epistemonikos methodologist Dr Francisca Verdugo, “is that it shows how much duplicity and waste of resources we find today in the research field. For example, we found there is an excessive number of systematic reviews about imaging findings in children with COVID-19, however, none of them manages to identify even 50% of the available primary studies”. This conclusion, says Dr Verdugo, “makes it necessary to incorporate new technologies that allow us to identify the evidence in a more effective way”.
Epistemonikos’ Chairman and co-founder, Dr Gabriel Rada, clarified that “thanks to the L·OVE Platform in addition to the collaborative work of our specialists’ network and the Epistemonikos’ team, we were able to identify more primary studies than any of the systematic reviews that used the conventional method of search and screening”, and adds that “with L·OVE, we aim to encourage collaborative work as a way to avoid duplicity and waste of efforts and resources, making the evidence synthesis more efficient”.
Epistemonikos’ graphic designer, Valeria Contreras, was in charge of designing the images used in the article, particularly the matrix that shows the body of evidence available related to the systematic reviews and their included studies. About this, Valeria says that “adequate communication between the different actors is vital during the design process, especially in this context, where every mistaken detail or misunderstood concept can become a major problem. In this case, the challenge was to show the systematic reviews analyzed, and their characteristics, in a simple way, facilitating its reading and use by other researchers. I believe that design plays a fundamental role in scientific research, for example, improving the processing of major amounts of information in order to make interpretation of evidence much more efficient”.
The study proves the efficiency that can be added to research and evidence synthesis processes using technology such as the L·OVE Platform, in addition to the collective intelligence of a network of specialists working together.
Check the study here
