EVIDENCE MAP OF APPENDICITIS – A LIVING SYSTEMATIC REVIEW WITH META-ANALYSES katharina.maurer@clarunis.ch

PW03-06

EVIDENCE MAP OF APPENDICITIS – A LIVING SYSTEMATIC REVIEW WITH META-ANALYSES

8

Switzerland

Oral only

Appendicitis is one of the most common diseases of the gastrointestinal tract with a lifetime incidence of 7 to 9 %. Open and laparoscopic appendectomy are among the most performed emergency surgeries worldwide. Recently, non-operative treatments are emerging. Given the large and growing body of evidence on appendicitis the aim of this project was to create a systematic and living Evidence Map of Appendicitis.

PubMed, CENTRAL, Web of Science and EMBASE were systematically and continuously searched for all published and ongoing randomized controlled trials (RCT) and systematic reviews (SR) dealing with diagnosis and treatment of appendicitis. Outcomes from every existing RCT were extracted and trial quality was assessed. RCTs and SRs on identical subjects were grouped to research topics. For specific treatment outcomes, meta-analyses were performed for all research topics with more than three RCTs.

Out of 15839 articles screened, 485 RCTs on 94701 patients and 356 SRs were included and grouped into 73 research topics with 29 living meta-analyses. Most RCTs were from Asia (41%),followed by Europe (34%) and North America (16%). Living meta-analyses were performed for 29 out of 73 research topics. For three out of 73 research topics (4%) there were no RCT available.

The Evidence Map of Appendicitis is the ultimate go-to source for evidence on appendicitis. It is constantly updated and freely accessible via www.EVIglance.com and as a mobile phone app. Clinical decision-making and evidence-based patient information are supported by the primary data provided, as well as by living meta-analyses.