Shea BJ, Reeves BC, Wells G, Thuku M, Hamel C, Moran J, Moher D, Tugwell P, Welch V, Kristjansson E, Henry DA.
AMSTAR 2: a critical appraisal tool for systematic reviews that include randomised or non-randomised studies of healthcare interventions, or both. BMJ. 2017 Sep 21;358:j4008
This article describes the development process of AMSTAR 2 in detail.
Shea BJ, Grimshaw JM, Wells GA, Boers M, Andersson N, Hamel C, Porter AC, Tugwell P, Moher D, Bouter LM.
Development of AMSTAR: a measurement tool to assess the methodological quality of systematic reviews. BMC Med Res Methodol. 2007 Feb 15; 7:10. PMID: 17302989.
This was the first publication that was published when AMSTAR was first developed and launched. It began with a 37-item assessment tool that was applied to 99 paper-based and 52 electronic systematic reviews. Exploratory factor analysis was used to identify underlying components. The results were considered by methodological experts using a nominal group technique aimed at item reduction and design of an assessment tool with face and content validity.
Shea BJ, Hamel C, Wells GA, Bouter LM, Kristjansson E, Grimshaw J, Henry DA, Boers M.
AMSTAR is a reliable and valid measurement tool to assess the methodological quality of systematic reviews. J Clin Epidemiol. 2009 Oct; 62(10):1013-20. PMID: 19230606
This article measured the agreement, reliability, construct validity, and feasibility of AMSTAR. The authors found that AMSTAR had good agreement, reliability, construct validity, and feasibility.
Shea BJ, Bouter LM, Peterson J, Boers M, Andersson N, Ortiz Z, Ramsay T, Bai A, Shukla VK, Grimshaw JM.
External Validation of a Measurement Tool to Assess Systematic Reviews (AMSTAR). PLoS ONE. 2007; 2(12): e1350. PMCID: PMC2131785
AMSTAR was used to appraise 42 reviews focusing on therapies to treat gastro-esophageal reflux disease, peptic ulcer disease, and other acid-related diseases. Two assessors applied the AMSTAR to each review. Two other assessors, plus a clinician and/or methodologist applied a global assessment to each review independently.
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Shea B, Andersson N, Henry D.
Increasing the demand for childhood vaccination in developing countries: a systematic review. BMC Int Health Hum Rights. 2009 Oct 14; 9 Suppl 1:S5. PMID: 19828063
This article is a systematic review that assesses the methodological quality of published systematic reviews and meta-analyses using AMSTAR. One can get a good sense of how to apply AMSTAR while performing a systematic review.