Adding an Outcome

To be able to add an outcome you must be the 1st reviewer assigned to extract data, you can change this by selecting “manage reviewers” on the study list. 

Each outcome has its own extraction table, so to begin setting up your table first click 'Add Outcome', and give it a name. 

We support continuous and dichotomous outcome types for outcomes reported against an arm or arm vs reference arm (effect estimates). 

Different measures will show in the “Reported as” field depending on what you’ve selected for “Outcome Type” and “Reported against”:

  • Continuous:
    • Reported against the arms in the study:
      • Mean with Standard Error, Standard Deviation, or Confidence Intervals
    • Reported against arm vs reference arm (effect estimate):
      • Mean Difference or Standard Mean Difference with Standard Error or Confidence Intervals and P-value
  • Dichotomous:
    • Reported against the arms in the study:
      • Number of events or Percentage of events
    • Reported against arm vs reference arm (effect estimate):
      • Ratios with Standard Error or Confidence Intervals and P-value
  • Adverse events:
    • Reported against the arms in the study:
      • Number of events or Percentage of events

If you add an effect estimate, you’ll need to select a reference arm before adding your outcome.

Custom effect measures

If study data has been reported differently to any of the standard option choices, you can create a new custom effect measure.

Custom effect measures can have any number of labels. If you want more than three labels, simply click ‘Add label’. If you want less than three labels, delete one by clicking ‘Remove’. The intervention arms form the row headers, while the labels form the columns for each timepoint in your subsequent outcome table.

When choosing a custom effect measure you can input data in the following formats: integer, decimal, percent, or plain text.

 

Other outcome identifiers

You can also add an outcome sub-group in this screen. Other identifying details you may choose to collect include unit, scale, range, direction of improvement, whether data are a final value or change from baseline, and how complete the outcome reporting is.

Please note that this data will export to RevMan but not CSV/Excel.

You can always change this information later by clicking the pencil icon next to the outcome title. To view it once back in the Outcomes screen, click the "i" icon.

 

 

Building the Outcome Table

The study interventions you added under Interventions will appear as rows, and timepoints you add will appear as columns. You may add as many timepoints as you like.

Once you've added your timepoints, your table is ready for data to be entered. If you need to indicate missing data, click the "add 'missing data' tag" button below the table. Missing data cells will appear as grey. To remove this tag, click into the grey-ed out cells and click "Remove 'missing data' tag".

 

 

Regardless of the outcome type that you choose, if you enter data in a format that is different to what is expected, then Covidence will display a red box around that entry. This data will not save or be available at the point of consensus. It will also not export to both CSV/Excel and RevMan.