PRISMA-C

Evidence suggests that newborn and child health systematic reviews and meta-analyses exhibit poor quality in reporting. The Preferred Reporting Items in Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis’ (PRISMA) guideline has been developed to improve the reporting of systematic reviews. We aimed to identify areas where reporting could be strengthened, underpinning a rationale for the implementation of child-centric extensions and modifications to the current PRISMA to improve reporting in this population.

We developed a consensus-based checklist of essential items which researchers should include when reporting systematic reviews (SRs) of interventions in pediatrics. The PRISMA-Children and Adolescents (PRISMA-C) 2026 guidance will 1) help authors write clear reports of their systematic reviews of interventions in pediatrics, 2) create a framework for reviewers that assess publications, 3) expedite funding evaluations, 4) provide a tool for training students and researchers on paediatric SR methodology, and 5) help end-users of the SR such as paediatricians and policy makers to better evaluate SR’s validity and applicability in their decision-making process.

The PRISMA-C 2026 extension comprises 7 reporting items, 4 abstract items, and 10 items in which the ontogeny statement applies. The Statement and Explanation has been published as one paper in The BMJ. The link to the publication is available below.