Tina Poklepovic Pericic

• PhD
• University of Split

Background/Objectives: This study aimed to explore antibiotic prescribing practices for dental implant placement in Croatia. Methods: We conducted a cross-sectional questionnaire-based study including dentists in Croatia who perform dental implant therapy. The questionnaire assessed the dentists’ age, working experience, education level, and whethe...

Objectives The objective of this best practice implementation project was to improve dieticians’ professional practice and dietary care through the use of counseling strategies. Introduction Improving the design and implementation of evidence-based practice depends on successful behavior change interventions. This requires an appropriate method fo...

Aims: This project aimed to improve physicians’ adherence to evidence-based practices regarding the selection and administration of intra-articular knee injections for patients with osteoarthritis. The project also aimed to empower patients by increasing their awareness of these evidence-based practices. Introduction: In the management of knee oste...

Objectives This exploratory study was conducted to find out how well the concept of evidence-based research (EBR) is known among European health researchers with substantial clinical research experience, and which barriers affect the use of an EBR approach. The concept of EBR implies that researchers use evidence synthesis to justify new studies an...

Backgrounds: Antibiotics are used in endodontic treatment to control acute odontogenic infection and for prophylactic purposes. This study aimed to investigate the knowledge of dentists from the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina about the choice and the routes of antibiotic administration in endodontics. Methods: This cross-sectional study invol...

Introduction Advance care planning (ACP) ensures that patients receive medical care aligned with their values, goals, and preferences, especially regarding end-of-life decisions in serious chronic illnesses. Objective This project aimed to introduce and promote evidence-based ACP in oncology and palliative care at a midsized hospital near Berlin,...

Objectives This project aimed to promote running as the best treatment for lower back pain (LBP) in an outpatient setting. Introduction LBP is one of the most prevalent conditions worldwide. Sixty-two percent of all Germans experience episodes of non-specific back pain at least once a year, with one-fifth developing chronic conditions. Interverteb...

Introduction and objectives Type 1 diabetes is an autoimmune disease that destroys insulin-producing cells in the pancreas. Education is the cornerstone of effective diabetes care. In this implementation project, we aimed to improve compliance with best practices regarding type 1 diabetes educational interventions for adult hospitalized patients....

Objectives The objectives of this study are to assess reporting of evidence-based healthcare (EBHC) e-learning interventions using the Guideline for Reporting Evidence-based practice Educational interventions and Teaching (GREET) checklist and explore factors associated with compliant reporting. Design Methodological cross-sectional study. Method...

Orthodontic therapy is associated with a more significant accumulation of dentobacterial plaque and impaired oral hygiene, which increase the risk of developing dental caries and periodontal disease. Therefore, it is crucial to educate orthodontic patients about proper oral hygiene maintenance and oral health before and during treatment. The aim of...

Objective To assess the methodological quality and characteristics of systematic reviews (SRs) of interventional studies in orthodontics and assess how the certainty of the evidence is reported using the GRADE approach. Material and Methods Six electronic databases were searched, followed by a hand search of the reference lists of eligible studies...

Risk of bias (RoB) assessment is essential to the systematic review methodology. The new version of the Cochrane RoB tool for randomized trials (RoB 2) was published in 2019 to address limitations identified since the first version of the tool was published in 2008 and to increase the reliability of assessments. This study analyzed the frequency of...

Objectives To describe how systematic reviews with network meta-analyses (NMAs) that used the Grading of Recommendations Assessment, Development, and Evaluation (GRADE) NMA approach addressed intransitivity when assessing certainty of evidence. Design Systematic survey. Data sources Medline, Embase and Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews from...

Background Consistency in outcomes across clinical trials allows for comparing and combining results from different studies. A core outcome set (COS), representing a minimally agreed standardized group of outcomes that should be monitored and measured through research in a specific field of medicine, is not yet available for trials in implant prost...

Background: Health literacy is a global problem and is particularly relevant when making health care decisions about small children. We analysed how parents of preschool children assess health claims and explored the predictors of their assessment skill. Background: Health literacy is a global problem and is particularly relevant when making health...

Study objectives: The main objectives of this study were to assess the effect of mandibular advancement device (MAD) therapy on the upper airway morphology, as well as the occurence of dental and skeletal side effects following 1-year MAD therapy in patients with mild to moderate obstructive sleep apnea (OSA). Methods: In this study we included 15...

Objective AMSTAR 2 was originally developed for systematic reviews (SRs) of healthcare interventions. The aim of this study was to assess the applicability of AMSTAR 2 to systematic reviews (SRs) of non-intervention studies Study design and setting This was a meta-research study. We used 20 SRs for each of the following four types of SRs: Diagnost...

Objective: To determine whether the use of Evidence to Decision (EtD) frameworks is associated to higher quality of both guidelines and individual recommendations. Methods: We identified guidelines recently published by international organizations that have methodological guidance documents for their development. Pairs of researchers independent...

Background: The GRADE (Grading of Recommendations Assessment, Development and Evaluation) approach is a system for transparent evaluation of the certainty of evidence used in clinical practice guidelines and systematic reviews. GRADE is a key part of evidence-based medicine (EBM) training of health care professionals. Objective: This study aimed...

BACKGROUND The GRADE (Grading of Recommendations Assessment, Development and Evaluation) approach is a system for transparent evaluation of the certainty of evidence used in clinical practice guidelines and systematic reviews. GRADE is a key part of evidence-based medicine (EBM) training of health care professionals. OBJECTIVE This study aimed to...

Background Lack of knowledge about systematic reviews (SRs) could prevent individual healthcare workers (HCWs) from using SRs as a source of information in their clinical practice or discourage them from participating in such research. In this study, we aimed to explore in-depth the opinion of a sample of HCWs about the newly created online educati...

Background: Despite being recognized as a standard of practice, there is scarce empirical evidence of whether the use of an Evidence to Decision (EtD) framework translates into better quality of both guidelines and their recommendations. Objective: To determine whether the use of EtD frameworks is related to higher quality of both guidelines and th...

Background Publishing identifiable patient data in scientific journals may jeopardize patient privacy and confidentiality if best ethical practices are not followed. Current journal practices show considerable diversity in the publication of identifiable patient photographs, and different stakeholders may have different opinions of and practices in...

Background Lack of knowledge of systematic reviews (SRs) could prevent individual health care professionals from using SRs as a source of information in their clinical practice or discourage them from participating in such research. Objective In this randomized controlled trial, we evaluated the effect of a short web-based educational intervention...

Objective This systematic review aimed to identify the characteristics and application of citation analyses in evaluating the justification, design, and placement of the research results of clinical health studies in the context of earlier, similar studies. Study Design We searched MEDLINE (OVID), Embase (OVID), and the Cochrane Methodology Regist...

Objective To identify and describe the processes suggested for the formulation of healthcare recommendations in health care guidelines available in guidance documents. Methods We searched international databases in May 2020 to retrieve guidance documents published by organizations dedicated to guideline development. Pairs of researchers independen...

Heart rate (HR) lowering during acute coronary syndrome (ACS) is beneficial as it reduces myocardial oxygen consumption. However, the role of ivabradine as an HR-lowering agent in the setting of ACS is not clear. We aimed to systematically review and synthesize the current evidence on the role of ivabradine use in the ACS. A systematic review was c...

Background: The purpose of this study was to introduce a new Oral Health Activities Questionnaire (OHAQ, hereinafter) that examines different activities and behaviours related to the oral hygiene regimen of each analysed subject. Methods: A sample of 658 students was analysed to determine the OHAQ scale’s basic metric characteristics. To determine...

Background: Water-polo is an official competitive olympic sport with high energy and technical-tactical demands. The aim of this study was to evaluate the influence of cognitive performance and specific swimming capacities on the selection of youth water polo players to the national water polo team. Methods: There were 83 youth water polo player...

Some Cochrane reviews were declared stable or closed, i.e. not in need of updating. For some of them, it has been declared that conclusions will not (or it is unlikely they will) change with further studies. We explored whether there is a discernable decision‐making pattern for decisions about the conclusiveness and stabilization of these reviews....

This is a protocol for a scoping review that aims to determine how guideline authors using the Grading of Recommendations, Assessment, Development, and Evaluations (GRADE) approach have addressed previously identified challenges related to public health. The Joanna Briggs Institute (JBI) methodology for scoping reviews will be followed. We will sea...

Background The process of moving from evidence to decisions (EtD) represents a cornerstone within guideline development methods. Little is known about the processes used by organizations in charge of guideline development and what criteria they consider when formulating recommendations. Objective To identify and describe the processes suggested fo...

Objectives: To assess dentists' level of knowledge and practice concerning antibiotic usage in endodontics using the European Society of Endodontology position statement as a reference. Materials and methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted in the form of an electronic questionnaire consisting of 23 questions, including dentists' demograph...

This review aims to assess the available evidence related to the effectiveness of early interventions on malocclusion and its impact on the craniofacial structure among children under six years of age. Furthermore, we aimed to evaluate the correlation between nutritive sucking behavior mechanisms on the oral facial components. We searched Medline,...

Objectives: We validated the Croatian version of the test using multiple-choice questions (MCQs) from the Claim Evaluation Tools item bank of the Informed Health Choices project, and measured the ability of high school students to appraise health claims. Setting: 16 high schools from the urban agglomeration of the city of Split, Croatia. Partic...

Background: Coronavirus disease (COVID-19) vaccine-related side effects have a determinant role in the public decision regarding vaccination. Therefore, this study has been designed to actively monitor the safety and effectiveness of COVID-19 vaccines globally. Methods: A multi-country, three-phase study including a cross-sectional survey to tes...

Background Evidence-based healthcare (EBHC) knowledge and skills are recognised as core competencies of healthcare professionals worldwide, and teaching EBHC has been widely recommended as an integral part of their training. The objective of this overview of systematic reviews (SR) was to update evidence and assess the effects of various approaches...

Background Navigating the rapidly growing body of scientific literature on the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic is challenging, and ongoing critical appraisal of this output is essential. We aimed to summarize and critically appraise systematic reviews of coronavirus disease (COVID-19) in humans that were available at the beginning of the pandemic. Methods Nin...

Webinar on February 17, 2020 ***Zoom Link*** - <https://ucl.zoom.us/j/93340220679?pwd=THhLcVk1Y094Y2t0WER3dnFSTmFudz09> . . . . Topic: Fostering international co-operation and junior researchers’ engagement during a pandemic Presenter: Israel Borges, Federal University of Minas Gerais, Brazil Date: Wednesday 17th February, 4pm GMT (view in your t...

Abstract Background Knowledge assessment in evidence-based medicine (EBM) is usually performed by the measurement of memorised facts, understanding of EBM concepts and application of learned knowledge in familiar situations, all of which are considered lower-level educational objectives. The aim of this study was to assess EBM knowledge both on hig...

The 2020 HSE Open Access Research Award is given by the Irish Health Service Executive (HSE) to a research publication for its impact on health service provision. As Irish authors are only eligible for the award, the award was given to the 3rd author Dónal P. O’Mathúna. The criteria for the award are: • Addresses a health question/problem of nati...

This report reflects on the activities of an international and multidisciplinary collaboration that began in February 2020 as the full impact of the novel coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2) was not yet realized. Prior to the implementation of social distancing and travel restrictions, researchers from different parts of the world were seeking opportunities t...

Abstract Background Bias in randomized controlled trials (RCTs) can lead to underestimation or overestimation of the true effects of interventions. Surgical RCTs may suffer from the risk of bias (RoB) that is avoidable in trials of other interventions, and vice versa. We aimed to compare the adequacy of RoB assessments in surgical versus non-surgic...

New evidence on the COVID-19 pandemic is being published daily. Ongoing high-quality assessment of this literature is therefore needed to enable clinical practice to be evidence-based. This review builds on a previous scoping review and aimed to identify associations between disease severity and various clinical, laboratory and radiological charact...

New evidence on the COVID-19 pandemic is being published daily. Ongoing high-quality assessment of this literature is therefore needed to enable clinical practice to be evidence-based. This review builds on a previous scoping review and aimed to identify associations between disease severity and various clinical, laboratory and radiological charact...

Background: It is challenging to keep systematic reviews (SR) current and updated. Cochrane designated some of its SRs as "stable", i.e. not in a need of updating. The issue of stabilizing an SR is an important in research synthesis, because it could help reduce research waste. The aim of this study was to analyze publicly available justifications...

Use of patient clinical photographs requires specific attention to confidentiality and privacy. Although there are policies and procedures for publishing clinical images, there is little systematic evidence about what patients and health professionals actually think about consent for publishing clinical images. We investigated the opinions of three...

Aim: Adequate judging of risk of bias (RoB) for blinding of outcome assessors (detection bias) is important for supporting highest level of evidence. Materials & methods: Judgments and supporting comments for detection bias were retrieved from RoB tables reported in Cochrane reviews. We categorized comments, and then compared judgment and supportin...

Background: Navigating the rapidly growing body of scientific literature on the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic is challenging and ongoing critical appraisal of this output is essential. We aimed to collate and summarize all published systematic reviews on the coronavirus disease (COVID-19). Methods: Nine databases (Medline, EMBASE, Cochrane Library, CINAHL, W...

Objective To analyze how many non-Cochrane systematic reviews (NCSRs) used Cochrane’s risk of bias (RoB) tool, domains they used, and whether judgments and comments about risk of bias were in line with Cochrane Handbook. Methods This was a methodological (research-on-research) study. We retrieved NCSRs from PubMed, extracted information about meth...

A growing body of literature on the 2019 novel coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2) is becoming available, but a synthesis of available data has not been conducted. We performed a scoping review of currently available clinical, epidemiological, laboratory, and chest imaging data related to the SARS-CoV-2 infection. We searched MEDLINE, Cochrane CENTRAL, EMBASE...

A growing body of literature on the 2019 novel coronavirus (2019-nCoV) is becoming available but a synthesis of available data has not been conducted. We performed a scoping review of currently available clinical, epidemiological, laboratory, and chest imaging data related to the 2019-nCoV infection. Methodology: We searched MEDLINE, Cochrane CENT...

Background/aims: With the growing popularity of water polo across the world, there has been rising awareness of the risks for orofacial injures in water polo. The aim of this study was to evaluate knowledge and attitudes of water polo coaches regarding dental trauma, dental emergency procedures and awareness about prevention of such injuries. Mat...

A growing body of literature on the 2019 novel coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2) is becoming available, but a synthesis of available data has not been conducted. We performed a scoping review of currently available clinical, epidemiological, laboratory, and chest imaging data related to the SARS-CoV-2 infection. We searched MEDLINE, Cochrane CENTRAL, EMBASE...

Objective: To analyze methods of assessing 'overall bias' in Cochrane reviews of interventions published in the Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews (CDSR), and sensitivity analyses related to overall risk of bias (RoB). Study design and setting: From Cochrane reviews published within three years, from July 2015 to June 2018, we extracted dat...

Background Recently, a new generation of bioceramic root canal sealers has been introduced onto the market. Many in vitro studies have investigated the antimicrobial properties of these sealers, but their comparative efficacy in antimicrobial activity is still unknown. Methodology Three electronic databases were searched: MEDLINE and Embase via th...

Background: The aim of this study is the evaluation of clinical signs and outcomes of treatment in children under five years of age who underwent appendectomy because of acute appendicitis. Patients and Methods: From January 2009 until December 2018, 90 patients (54 boys and 36 girls) younger than five years of age, treated with appendectomy becau...

Background: Assessing the risk of bias (RoB) in included studies is one of the key methodological aspects of systematic reviews. Cochrane systematic reviews appraise RoB of randomised controlled trials (RCTs) with the Cochrane RoB tool. Detailed instructions for using the Cochrane RoB tool are provided in the Cochrane Handbook for Systematic Revie...

Background: This study evaluated the efficacy and safety of ertapenem versus a combination of gentamicin plus metronidazole in pediatric patients with diffuse peritonitis attributable to perforated appendicitis. Methods: From January 2017 to January 2019, 80 pediatric patients with a median age of 13 years who underwent laparoscopic appendectomy b...

Objectives: The objective of this study was to analyze adequacy of judgments about risk of bias (RoB) for blinding of participants and personnel (performance bias) in Cochrane systematic reviews of randomized controlled trials (RCTs). Study design and setting: We extracted judgments and supporting comments for performance bias from Cochrane revi...

Background: Good oral hygiene is thought to be important for oral health. This review is to determine the effectiveness of flossing in addition to toothbrushing for preventing gum disease and dental caries in adults. Objectives: To assess the effects of flossing in addition to toothbrushing, as compared with toothbrushing alone, in the managemen...

Background Clinical decisions are made based on Cochrane reviews, but the implementation of results of evidence syntheses such as Cochrane reviews is problematic if the evidence is not prepared consistently. All systematic reviews should assess the risk of bias (RoB) in included studies, and in Cochrane reviews, this is done by using Cochrane RoB t...

Background An important part of the systematic review methodology is appraisal of the risk of bias in included studies. Cochrane systematic reviews are considered golden standard regarding systematic review methodology, but Cochrane’s instructions for assessing risk of attrition bias are vague, which may lead to inconsistencies in authors’ assessme...

Background: Dental caries (tooth decay) and periodontal diseases (gingivitis and periodontitis) affect the majority of people worldwide, and treatment costs place a significant burden on health services. Decay and gum disease can cause pain, eating and speaking difficulties, low self-esteem, and even tooth loss and the need for surgery. As dental...

Objective To compare the outcomes of treatment in children with acute appendicitis between laparoscopic and open surgical approaches. Design Retrospective study. Setting Division of Pediatric Surgery at a tertiary-care hospital in Croatia between January 2012 to December 2016. Patients 834 children [median (IQR) age 13 (11,15)] who underwent app...

Background: Effective oral hygiene is a crucial factor in maintaining good oral health, which is associated with overall health and health-related quality of life. Dental floss has been used for many years in conjunction with toothbrushing for removing dental plaque in between teeth, however, interdental brushes have been developed which many peop...

Objectives: The aim of the article was to analyze whether the risk of bias (RoB) judgments for allocation concealment in Cochrane systematic reviews (CSRs) were in line with recommendations from the Cochrane Handbook. Study design and setting: From CSR, we extracted data about judgments and supporting comments about allocation concealment for ea...

Background: Clinical decisions are made based on Cochrane systematic reviews (CSRs), but implementation of results of evidence syntheses such as CSRs is problematic if the evidence is not prepared consistently. All systematic reviews should assess risk of bias (RoB) in included studies, and in CSRs this is done by using Cochrane RoB tool. However,...

Background: Purpose of this study was to analyze adequacy of judgments about risk of bias (RoB) for random sequence generation in Cochrane systematic reviews (CSRs) of randomized controlled trials (RCTs). Methods: Information was extracted from RoB tables of CSRs using automated data scraping. We categorized all comments provided as supports for ju...

Background: An important part of the systematic review methodology is appraisal of the risk of bias in included studies. Cochrane systematic reviews (CSRs) are considered golden standard regarding systematic review methodology, but Cochrane instructions for assessing risk of attrition bias are vague, which may lead to inconsistencies in assessments...

Background/aims: The increasing popularity of participating in sports activities among children and adolescents has increased the risk of sports-retaled orofacial and dental injuries. Therefore, it is important to establish efficient preventive strategies regarding sports-related dental trauma The aim of this study was to evaluate the occurrence o...

Background: Systematic reviews (SRs) are important for making clinical recommendations and guidelines. We analyzed methodological and reporting quality of pain-related SRs published in the top-ranking anesthesiology journals. Methods: This was a cross-sectional meta-epidemiological study. SRs published from 2005 to 2015 in the first quartile jou...

This is the protocol for a review and there is no abstract. The objectives are as follows: To evaluate the effectiveness of mechanical interdental cleaning (flossing, interdental brushing, tooth cleaning sticks and stimulators, oral irrigators), in addition to toothbrushing, compared with toothbrushing alone, for the prevention and control of: 1. p...

No abstract available. Copyright © 2015 by Academy of Sciences and Arts of Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Effective oral hygiene is a crucial factor in maintaining good oral health, which is associated with overall health and health-related quality of life. Dental floss has been used for many years in conjunction with toothbrushing for removing dental plaque in between teeth, however, interdental brushes have been developed which many people find easie...

This is the protocol for a review and there is no abstract. The objectives are as follows: To evaluate the effectiveness of interdental brushing in addition to toothbrushing, as compared with toothbrushing alone or toothbrushing and flossing for the management (prevention) of: • periodontal diseases; and • dental caries. A further objective is to...

It is assumed that removing plaque (a layer of bacteria in an organic matrix which forms on the teeth) will help prevent gum disease (gingivitis) and tooth decay (dental caries). Gum disease, which appears as red, bleeding gums, may eventually contribute to tooth loss. Untreated tooth decay may also result in tooth loss. Toothbrushing removes some...