What is the Cochrane Risk of Bias tool?
Short answer
The Cochrane Risk of Bias tool (RoB 2) is the standard for assessing risk of bias in randomized controlled trials. It evaluates five domains: randomization process, deviations from interventions, missing data, outcome measurement, and selective reporting. Each domain is rated as low risk, some concerns, or high risk.
Execution Steps
- 1Determine the effect of interest (assignment to intervention or adhering to intervention).
- 2Answer the signalling questions for each of the 5 domains.
- 3Apply the judgment algorithm to reach a domain-level assessment.
- 4Generate the overall risk of bias judgment based on domain results.
- 5Create traffic light tables and summary plots for reporting.
Prompt Template
Help me assess this RCT using the Cochrane RoB 2 tool. The trial randomized [N] patients to [intervention] vs [control] with [outcome] measured at [time point].
Common Failure Points
- Confusing the two versions: effect of assignment vs effect of adherence
- Rating a domain as "low risk" without sufficient information (use "some concerns" if unclear)
- Not using the signalling questions and jumping directly to judgments
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