Self-reported medication intake vs information from other data sources such as pharmacy records or medical records: Identification and description of existing publications, and comparison of agreement results for publications focusing on patients with cancer - a systematic review.

Purpose: To identify and describe publications addressing the agreement between self-reported medication and other data sources among adults and, in a subgroup of studies dealing with cancer patients, seek to identify parameters which are associated with agreement.

Methods: A systematic review including a systematic search within five biomedical databases up to February 28, 2019 was conducted as per the PRISMA Statement. Studies and agreement results were described.

Correction to: Information needs in people with diabetes mellitus: a systematic review.

Following publication of the original article [1], the authors opted to revise Table 1. Below is the updated version of the table.

Information needs in people with diabetes mellitus: a systematic review.

Background: The purpose of this study was to identify and analyse currently available knowledge on information needs of people with diabetes mellitus, also considering possible differences between subgroups and associated factors.

Methods: Twelve databases including MEDLINE, EMBASE and the Cochrane Library were searched up until June 2015. Publications that addressed self-reported information needs of people with diabetes mellitus were included.

Correction to: Diabetes-related information-seeking behaviour: a systematic review.

During the production process for this article [1] some errors were introduced into Table 2. The correct version of Table 2 can be found below; the original article [1] has also been updated with the correct version of Table 2. BMC apologises to the authors and to readers for this error.

Diabetes-related information-seeking behaviour: a systematic review.

Background: Information-seeking behaviour is necessary to improve knowledge on diabetes therapy and complications. Combined with other self-management skills and autonomous handling of the disease, it is essential for achieving treatment targets. However, a systematic review addressing this topic is lacking.

Psychosocial barriers to healthcare use among individuals with diabetes mellitus: A systematic review.

Purpose: To conduct a systematic review regarding psychosocial barriers to healthcare use in individuals with diabetes mellitus, using a well-established model of health-service use as a theoretical framework.

Methods: We used database-specific controlled vocabularies and additional free text terms, and conducted searches via MEDLINE, EMBASE, PsycINFO, CINAHL, Web of Science, OVID Journals. Included studies were rated according to the UK National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) criteria.

Incidence of lower extremity amputations in the diabetic compared with the non-diabetic population: A systematic review.

PROSPERO CRD4201501780.

The Incidence of End-Stage Renal Disease in the Diabetic (Compared to the Non-Diabetic) Population: A Systematic Review.

End-stage renal disease (ESRD) in diabetes is a life threatening complication resulting in a poor prognosis for patients as well as high medical costs. The aims of this systematic review were (1) to evaluate the incidence of ESRD due to all causes and due to diabetic nephropathy in the diabetic population and differences between incidences of ESRD with respect to sex, ethnicity, age and regions, (2) to compare incidence rates in the diabetic and non-diabetic population, and (3) to investigate time trends. The systematic review was conducted according to the PRISMA group guidelines by performing systematic literature searches in the biomedical databases until January 3rd 2015; thirty-two studies were included.

Incidence of lower extremity amputation in the diabetic compared to the non-diabetic population: a systematic review protocol.

Background: Diabetic individuals have a largely increased risk of lower extremity amputation (LEA) compared with non-diabetic patients. Prior systematic reviews of incidence of LEA have some limitations with respect to lack of consensus in the definition of LEA, level of LEA (all, major, minor), and definition of source population (general population or population with diabetes at risk). The purpose of our review is to evaluate the incidence of LEA in the diabetic population and its differences with regard to sex, ethnicity, age, and regions; to compare the incidence rate (IR) in the diabetic and non-diabetic population; and to investigate time trends.

Revealing and acknowledging value judgments in health technology assessment.

Background: Although value issues are increasingly addressed in health technology assessment (HTA) reports, HTA is still seen as a scientific endeavor and sometimes contrasted with value judgments, which are considered arbitrary and unscientific. This article aims at illustrating how numerous value judgments are at play in the HTA process, and why it is important to acknowledge and address value judgments.

Methods: A panel of experts involved in HTA, including ethicists, scrutinized the HTA process with regard to implicit value judgments.

Evaluation of ethical aspects in health technology assessment: more methods than applications?

Health technology assessment (HTA) emerged with the increased need for systematical evaluation of health technologies in the 1970s. From its very beginning, ethics was a constitutive part of HTA, and over the years a wide range of approaches have been suggested to address ethical aspects of health technologies. Despite a vast variety of methodologies in ethics, there is no consensus about the appropriateness of the existing methods.

Harmonization of ethics in health technology assessment: a revision of the Socratic approach.

Background: Ethics has been part of health technology assessment (HTA) from its beginning in the 1970s, and is currently part of HTA definitions. Several methods in ethics have been used in HTA. Some approaches have been developed especially for HTA, such as the Socratic approach, which has been used for a wide range of health technologies.

[Information on legal issues in health technologies: methodological proposal to identify them in a systematic and comprehensible manner].

Background: Rules and regulations form the framework of Health Technology Assessments. Legal issues are directly associated with the technology (as patents/licenses) or to the patients and their basic rights (as autonomy). In order to identify the regulations of interest as well as the relevant publications in a systematic and transparent way a specific methodological approach is required.

Ethical issues in autologous stem cell transplantation (ASCT) in advanced breast cancer: a systematic literature review.

Background: An effectiveness assessment on ASCT in locally advanced and metastatic breast cancer identified serious ethical issues associated with this intervention. Our objective was to systematically review these aspects by means of a literature analysis.

Methods: We chose the reflexive Socratic approach as the review method using Hofmann's question list, conducted a comprehensive literature search in biomedical, psychological and ethics bibliographic databases and screened the resulting hits in a 2-step selection process.

Reporting and presenting information retrieval processes: the need for optimizing common practice in health technology assessment.

Background: Information retrieval (IR) in health technology assessment (HTA) calls for transparency and reproducibility, but common practice in the documentation and presentation of this process is inadequate in fulfilling this demand.

Objectives: Our objective is to promote good IR practice by presenting the conceptualization of retrieval and transcription readable to non-information specialists, and reporting of effectively processed search strategies.

Methods: We performed a comprehensive database search (04/2010) to synthesize the current state-of-the-art.

Information on ethical issues in health technology assessment: how and where to find them.

Background: Comprehensive health technology assessments (HTAs) include thorough reflections on ethical issues associated with health technologies, their use, and value-based decisions in the assessment process. As methods of information retrieval for effectiveness assessments are not applicable to information retrieval on ethical issues, a specific methodological approach is necessary.

Objectives: In the absence of existing adapted methods, our objective was to develop a methodological approach for the systematic retrieval of information on ethical issues related to health technologies.

[Systematic search for information on ethical issues in HTA reports on medical technologies or interventions].

Background: The aim of a health technology assessment (HTA) is the complete and comprehensive evaluation of a medical technology or intervention. This includes the consideration of ethical aspects associated with the use of a medical technology or with the technology evaluation process. In this context, ethics, as a moral philosophy, embraces issues of autonomy, beneficence, non-maleficence, and justice.

Interventions for increasing uptake in screening programmes.

Introduction: Opportunities for the early detection of disease are not sufficiently being taken advantage of. Specific interventions could increase the uptake of prevention programmes. A comprehensive analysis of effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of these interventions with reference to Germany is still needed.

[Ethical aspects of short health technology assessments--a systematic review].

Ethical aspects are of high relevance to Short Health Technology Assessments (HTAs). We therefore conducted a systematic review to find out to what extent ethical aspects have been considered in previous Short HTAs. We included articles whose title or abstract suggested that it was a "short", "rapid" or "brief" assessment published in German, English, or French.