The Rosenthal Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine

Journal Club

Presents

Challenges in systematic reviews of complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) topics

Tuesday September 27, 2005

12:00 pm to 1:00 pm*

 Merritt Conference Room
P&S 3-418 [next to Student Affairs Office], 630 W. 168th Street
 

* (bring your brown bag lunch)

Expert Presenter: Judith S. Jacobson, DrPH, MBA Dr. Jacobson is Associate Professor of Clinical
Epidemiology, Columbia University, Mailman School of Public Health; and a research associate of the Rosenthal Center for CAM
 

Paper to be discussed: Shekelle PG, Morton SC, et al. Challenges in systematic reviews of CAM topics. Ann Intern Med. 21 June 2005; 142(12,Pt.2):1042-1047  (Paper available on PubMed)
 
 
Abstract: The use of complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) continues to grow in the United States. The Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality has devoted a substantial proportion of the Evidence-based Practice Center (EPC) program to systematic reviews of CAM. Such syntheses present different challenges from those conducted on western medicine topics, and in many ways are more difficult. We discuss 3 challenges: identifying evidence about CAM, assessing the quality of individual studies, and addressing rare serious adverse events. We use illustrations from EPC evidence reports to show readers approaches to the 3 areas and then present specific recommendations for each issue.