Developing, Implementing, and Applying Novel Techniques During Systematic Reviews of Primary Space Medicine Data

Abstract

BACKGROUND: The Aerospace Medicine Systematic Review Group was set up in 2016 to facilitate high quality and transparent synthesis of primary data to enable evidence-based practice. The group identified many research methods specific to space medicine that need consideration for systematic review methods. The group has developed space medicine specific methods to address this and trialed usage of these methods across seven published systematic reviews. This paper outlines evolution of space medicine synthesis methods and discussion of their initial application.METHODS: Space medicine systematic review guidance has been developed for protocol planning, quantitative and qualitative synthesis, sourcing gray data, and assessing quality and transferability of space medicine human spaceflight simulation study environments.RESULTS: Decision algorithms for guidance and tool usage were created based on usage. Six reviews used quantitative methods in which no meta-analyses were possible due to lack of controlled trials or reporting issues. All reviews scored the quality and transferability of space simulation environments. One review was qualitative. Several research gaps were identified.CONCLUSION: Successful use of the developed methods demonstrates usability and initial validity. The current space medicine evidence base resulting in no meta-analyses being possible shows the need for standardized guidance on how to synthesize data in this field. It also provides evidence to call for increasing use of controlled trials, standardizing outcome measures, and improving minimum reporting standards. Space medicine is a unique field of medical research that requires specific systematic review methods.Winnard A, Caplan N, Bruce-Martin C, Swain P, Velho R, Meroni R, Wotring V, Damann V, Weber T, Evetts S, Laws J. Developing, implementing, and applying novel techniques during systematic reviews of primary space medicine data. Aerosp Med Hum Perform. 2021; 92(8):681688.

Systematic review of the use of ultrasound for venous assessment and venous thrombosis screening in spaceflight

“…The methodological approach and reporting of the results followed the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) statement guidelines 9 , 10 and the Space Biomedicine Systematic Review Methods ( https://sites.google.com/view/sr-methods/guides ) 11 . The protocol was registered in PROSPERO database (Registration number [CRD42023410886]).…”

Effects of whole-body vibration or resistive-vibration exercise on blood clotting and related biomarkers: a systematic review

“…A systematic review of the literature was conducted following the guidelines defined by the Space Biomedicine Systematic Review Group 33 and the PRISMA (Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses) Guidelines for Systematic Review 34 . Initial pre-scoping was performed to determine appropriate search terms that would capture an adequate number of papers to reach knowledge saturation.…”

Search for Venous Endothelial Biomarkers Heralding Venous Thromboembolism in Space: A Qualitative Systematic Review of Terrestrial Studies

“…Thematic analysis ( Braun and Clarke, 2006 ; Braun et al, 2019 ) and thematic synthesis ( Thomas and Harden, 2008 ) following the qualitative systematic review methods guide by Winnard et al (2021) were used. Thematic analysis is split into 6 stages: The first stage involved reading all the included papers to identify relevant concepts and themes.…”