Critical appraisal is the process of carefully and systematically examining research to judge its trustworthiness, and its value and relevance in a particular context

Why do critical appraisal?

• Interpreting conflicting conclusions to obtain consensus
• Ultimately to inform guidelines e.g. SIGN
• Translation research into ‘real-life’ clinical medicine

Types of study design

• CONSORT statement: evidence-based, minimum set of recommendations for reporting randomised trials