Evidence map›Paper›PMID 41626989›Full record

ArticleResearch synthesis methods2025

Evaluation of semi-automated record screening methods for systematic reviews of prognosis studies and intervention studies.

Isa Spiero, Artuur M Leeuwenberg, Karel G M Moons, Lotty Hooft, Johanna A A Damen

Abstract read
In one paragraph

Article in Research synthesis methods, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 2 papers.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
2citing papers in PubMed
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

2 citing papers in PubMed.

  1. Review
  2. Review
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

5 authors.

Isa SpieroJulius Center for Health Sciences and Primary Care, https://ror.org/0575yy874University Medical Center Utrecht, Utrecht University, Utrecht, the Netherlands.
Artuur M LeeuwenbergJulius Center for Health Sciences and Primary Care, https://ror.org/0575yy874University Medical Center Utrecht, Utrecht University, Utrecht, the Netherlands.
Karel G M MoonsJulius Center for Health Sciences and Primary Care, https://ror.org/0575yy874University Medical Center Utrecht, Utrecht University, Utrecht, the Netherlands.
Lotty HooftJulius Center for Health Sciences and Primary Care, https://ror.org/0575yy874University Medical Center Utrecht, Utrecht University, Utrecht, the Netherlands.
Johanna A A DamenJulius Center for Health Sciences and Primary Care, https://ror.org/0575yy874University Medical Center Utrecht, Utrecht University, Utrecht, the Netherlands.

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Systematic reviews (SRs) synthesize evidence through a rigorous, labor-intensive, and costly process. To accelerate the title-abstract screening phase of SRs, several artificial intelligence (AI)-based semi-automated screening tools have been developed to reduce workload by prioritizing relevant records. However, their performance is primarily evaluated for SRs of intervention studies, which generally have well-structured abstracts. Here, we evaluate whether screening tool performance is equally effective for SRs of prognosis studies that have larger heterogeneity between abstracts. We conducted retrospective simulations on prognosis and intervention reviews using a screening tool (ASReview). We also evaluated the effects of review scope (i.e., breadth of the research question), number of (relevant) records, and modeling methods within the tool. Performance was assessed in terms of recall (i.e., sensitivity), precision at 95% recall (i.e., positive predictive value at 95% recall), and workload reduction (work saved over sampling at 95% recall [WSS@95%]). The WSS@95% was slightly worse for prognosis reviews (range: 0.324-0.597) than for intervention reviews (range: 0.613-0.895). The precision was higher for prognosis (range: 0.115-0.400) compared to intervention reviews (range: 0.024-0.057). These differences were primarily due to the larger number of relevant records in the prognosis reviews. The modeling methods and the scope of the prognosis review did not significantly impact tool performance. We conclude that the larger abstract heterogeneity of prognosis studies does not substantially affect the effectiveness of screening tools for SRs of prognosis. Further evaluation studies including a standardized evaluation framework are needed to enable prospective decisions on the reliable use of screening tools.

Indexed as

Systematic Reviews as TopicArtificial IntelligenceAutomationComputer SimulationHumansPrognosisReproducibility of ResultsRetrospective StudiesSensitivity and SpecificityWorkloadactive learningclinical guideline developmentlarge language modelsprioritized screeningsemi-automationsystematic reviews

Identifiers

PMID41626989
PMCPMC12657655

What Socratic holds

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Registered trials

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Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the Socratic graph.