Informing pandemic management in Germany with trustworthy living evidence syntheses and guideline development: lessons learned from the COVID-19 evidence ecosystem

Kunzler, Angela M. ; Iannizzi, Claire ; Burns, Jacob ; Metzendorf, Maria-Inti ; Voigt-Radloff, Sebastian; Piechotta, Vanessa; Schmaderer, Christoph ; Holzmann-Littig, Christopher; Balzer, Felix ; Benstoem, Carina; Binder, Harald ; Boeker, Martin; Dirnagl, Ulrich; Fichtner, Falk ; Golinski, Martin; Grundmann, Hajo; Hengel, Hartmut ; Jabs, Jonas; Kern, Winfried V.; Kopp, Ina; Kranke, Peter ; Kreuzberger, Nina ; Laudi, Sven; Lichtner, Gregor ; Lieb, Klaus; Maun, Andy ; Moerer, Onnen ; Müller, Anika ; Mutters, Nico T. ; Nothacker, Monika ; Pfadenhauer, Lisa M. ; Popp, Maria; Rüschemeyer, Georg; Schmucker, Christine; Schwingshackl, Lukas; Spies, Claudia; Steckelberg, Anke ; Stegemann, Miriam ; Strech, Daniel ; von Dincklage, Falk ; Weibel, Stephanie ; Wunderlich, Maximilian Markus; Zöller, Daniela ; Rehfuess, Eva ; Skoetz, Nicole und Meerpohl, Joerg J. (2024): Informing pandemic management in Germany with trustworthy living evidence syntheses and guideline development: lessons learned from the COVID-19 evidence ecosystem. In: Journal of Clinical Epidemiology, Bd. 173, 111456

Abstract

Objectives: We present the ‘COVID-19 evidence ecosystem’ (CEOsys) as a German network to inform pandemic management and to support clinical and public health decision-making. We discuss challenges faced when organizing the ecosystem and derive lessons learned for similar networks acting during pandemics or health-related crises. Study Design and Setting: Bringing together 18 university hospitals and additional institutions, CEOsys key activities included research prioritization, conducting living systematic reviews (LSRs), supporting evidence-based (living) guidelines, knowledge translation (KT), detecting research gaps, and deriving recommendations, backed by technical infrastructure and capacity building. Results: CEOsys rapidly produced 31 high-quality evidence syntheses and supported three living guidelines on COVID-19-related topics, while also developing methodological procedures. Challenges included CEOsys’ late initiation in relation to the pandemic outbreak, the delayed prioritization of research questions, the continuously evolving COVID-19-related evidence, and establishing a technical infra-structure. Methodological-clinical tandems, the cooperation with national guideline groups and international collaborations were key for efficiency. Conclusion: CEOsys provided a proof-of-concept for a functioning evidence ecosystem at the national level. Lessons learned include that similar networks should, among others, involve methodological and clinical key stakeholders early on, aim for (inter)national collab-orations, and systematically evaluate their value. We particularly call for a sustainable network.

• Dokumententyp: Zeitschriftenartikel
• Fakultät: Medizin > Institut für Medizinische Informationsverarbeitung, Biometrie und Epidemiologie
• Themengebiete: 600 Technik, Medizin, angewandte Wissenschaften > 610 Medizin und Gesundheit
• ISSN: 08954356
• Sprache: Englisch