4.4 Systematic review of effectiveness

A systematic review report is important because it provides all the details regarding the conduct of the systematic review and the best available evidence to inform the question posed by the review. Essentially, the content of the sections of the review protocol and the review report are conceptually the same, particularly the background and the methods section. The review protocol specified the proposed plan for the review; the review report reports the conduct of the review, what was actually performed and the results of the review undertaking. All deviations from what was pre-planned in the review protocol should be explicitly reported and justified in the review report.