Twice-monthly email updates to highlight best new evidence about the COVID-19 response

As decision-makers across Canada continue to seek out the best-available, synthesized research evidence to inform their pandemic-response efforts, helping them efficiently focus on only the highest quality and most up-to-date evidence syntheses is important. To help address this need, the COVID-19 Evidence Network to support Decision-making (COVID-END) in Canada has recently launched a twice-monthly email update, which includes spotlights on the best available new evidence from across Canada and around the globe, as well as a horizon scan of emerging issues. Individuals interested in automatically receiving these email updates twice a month can sign up to receive them.

The Canadian COVID-19 evidence spotlight draws on the work of the 40+ evidence-synthesis teams contributing to COVID-END in Canada, and profiles newly prepared syntheses and newly updated living syntheses updated in response to requests from Canadian decision-makers. The spotlight organizes the syntheses according to the public-health measures, clinical-management options, health-system arrangements, and economic and social responses they address. The syntheses prepared and updated with the support of COVID-END in Canada can be found here.

The global COVID-19 evidence spotlight draws on all of the evidence syntheses being prepared by teams internationally, and profiles only the ‘best’ evidence syntheses for every major COVID-19 decision. The designation of best is based on recency of the search for evidence, quality of the synthesis, and availability of a GRADE evidence profile that speaks to the certainty of evidence contained in the synthesis. This designation reduces the ‘noise-to-signal’ ratio from more than 6,200 syntheses to 420 ‘best’ evidence syntheses. These best evidence syntheses are available through the COVID-END inventory of best evidence syntheses.

The Canadian horizon scan identifies emergent issues (or previously missed long-term and recurring issues and/or elaborations on these issues) related to COVID-19 in Canada for which evidence syntheses are or will be needed. For over a year COVID-END has been convening a global horizon-scanning panel. Now COVID-END in Canada is regularly convening a Canadian panel comprised of citizens, providers, policymakers and researchers from across Canada. The panel’s deliberations are informed by a pre-circulated briefing note and captured in a panel summary.

You can sign up for the twice-monthly email updates here.