Using Systematic Reviews to Critically Appraise the Scientific Information for the Bovine Veterinarian

Vandeweerd, Jean-Michel; Clegg, Peter; Hougardy, V.; Buczinski, Sébastien

doi:10.1016/j.cvfa.2011.12.002

Cited by 6 publications

(5 citation statements)

References 15 publications

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“…Reviews have long been used to summarize the body of literature on a given topic (Gordon et al, 2013). Especially in regard to the lack of time that today's doctors and scientists are confronted with (Vandeweerd et al, 2012), reviews can be very useful. Because systematic reviews follow a structured research protocol, they reduce sources of bias at all stages of the review (e.g., inclusion criteria for relevant literature, quality assessment of studies; Sargeant et al, 2006).…”

Section: Evidence-based Medicine and The Role Of Systematic Reviewsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Invited review: Antibiotic treatment of metritis in dairy cows: A systematic approach

Haimerl

Heuwieser

2014

Journal of Dairy Science

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Acute puerperal metritis (APM) is an acute systemic illness with fever ≥ 39.5 °C and signs of toxemia due to an infection of the uterus occurring within 21 d after parturition. Because of the infectious nature of APM, antibiotics are considered beneficial for its treatment. Each use of an antimicrobial drug, however, is associated with selective pressure for the emergence of resistant bacteria. Hence, there is a significant need to encourage prudent use of antibiotics and alternative therapies to antibiotics. Therefore, the objective of this study was to systematically review the current literature on treatment of APM. A comprehensive and systematic literature search was conducted utilizing the PubMed and CAB Abstracts databases to identify literature focusing on the antibiotic therapy of puerperal metritis in the cow. After application of specific exclusion criteria, 21 publications comprising 23 trials remained for final evaluation. Data extraction revealed that the majority of the studies (n = 19) were attributable to the highest evidence level. Of 21 studies controlled, 11 had an untreated group and 3 a positive control group. The majority of the studies (n = 17) applied ceftiofur for the treatment of APM. Concerning the efficacy of ceftiofur, 7 studies observed clinical improvement, whereas none found improved reproductive performance. Fewer than half of the studies (n = 10) performed a bacteriological examination and only 4 implemented an antibiotic susceptibility test. Also, 3 studies (13.0%) described a self-cure rate per se. Little attention was given to the issue of bacterial resistance (n = 3), the need for reducing the application of antibiotics (n = 2), or guidelines for prudent use of antibiotics (n = 1). Our findings demonstrate that implementation of bacteriological examinations, sensitivity testing, and determination of minimum inhibitory concentrations, as well as reporting and discussion of critical issues (e.g., self-cure rates, resistance, prudent drug use), were suboptimal. On the other hand, the quality of studies on the treatment of APM was good, as indicated by evidence level 1. Nevertheless, more high-quality research considering self-cure rates is necessary to address critical issues related to APM and crucial to the dairy industry, such as resistance, prudent use of antibiotics, animal welfare, and cost-benefit ratios.

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Section: Evidence-based Medicine and The Role Of Systematic Reviewsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Invited review: Antibiotic treatment of metritis in dairy cows: A systematic approach

Haimerl

Heuwieser

2014

Journal of Dairy Science

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“…15 A semiobjective method of ranking the quality of the studies was performed based on the recent article by Vandeweerd and colleagues. 23 Each article was evaluated and given a score out of 100. The ranking was based on a list of questions provided in the article.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Evidence for the Use of Ceftiofur for Treatment of Metritis in Dairy Cattle

Reppert

2015

Veterinary Clinics of North America: Food Animal Practice

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“…Nevertheless, the pyramid of evidence may lead to an overestimation of the scientific value of publications of low evidence. In fact, this kind of information should be integrated in systematic reviews and critically appraised topics (Vandeweerd et al, 2012a). However, as soon as high quality research results from randomised, controlled clinical trials are available, not too much importance should be attached to data of low evidence.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The staircase of evidence – a new metaphor displaying the core principles of Evidence-based Veterinary Medicine

Arlt¹,

Heuwieser

2016

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Background: Veterinary practitioners and clinicians should base their clinical decisions on the best evidence obtainable to provide best patient care. The evidence of information concerning diagnostic or therapeutic procedures and disease prevention can be ranked from weak to strong based on the methodology the information is generated by. Teaching the concepts and strategies of Evidence-based Veterinary Medicine, however, can be challenging. Students and practitioners should become competent in defining a clinical problem, retrieving of information from the literature and independent critical thinking.

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Using Systematic Reviews to Critically Appraise the Scientific Information for the Bovine Veterinarian

Cited by 6 publications

References 15 publications

Invited review: Antibiotic treatment of metritis in dairy cows: A systematic approach

Invited review: Antibiotic treatment of metritis in dairy cows: A systematic approach

Evidence for the Use of Ceftiofur for Treatment of Metritis in Dairy Cattle

The staircase of evidence – a new metaphor displaying the core principles of Evidence-based Veterinary Medicine

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