Living systematic reviews (LSR) represent an evolving methodology for systematic review that is continuously updated to incorporate new evidence in a timely manner, ensuring that healthcare professionals and policymaker shave access to the most last information to make optimal decisions. The global publication of LSR has been a rapid increase. But the quality of reporting remains to be enhanced. In 2024, the PRISMA-LSR working group, in conjunction with the characteristics of LSR to form the reporting standards for living systematic reviews, which plays a significant role in promoting the transparent, complete, and accurate reporting of LSR. It has been published in the BMJ journal. This article interpreted PRISMA-LSR with representative examples, aiming to provide a reference for the standardization of LSR by domestic scholars.
Systematic review, a kind of higher-level evidence in evidence-based medicine, has a fully developed method system. However, it has some defects in the updating strategy. The living systematic review can effectively improve the timeliness of system reviews by periodically obtaining clinical evidences and updating the results of systematic reviews in a timely manner. This study briefly introduces the developing, characteristics, conditions, implementation and applications of living systematic reviews.
