Critically appraised topics

Via social media I find out about this paper from the British Journal of Dermatology (you will need a subscription to see the full paper).  It is a critically appraised topic about the use of diphenylcyclopropenone to treat alopecia areata, and involves a literature search carried out by Jacqueline Limpens, a medical librarian at the Academic Medical Center in Amsterdam, which is how I found out about it.

What is a "critically appraised topic"?  

Also known as a "CAT", a critically appraised topic is "is a short summary of the best available evidence, created to answer a specific clinical question", quoting from the University of Groningen listed below.  

Here are some resources about what a CAT is and how to carry one out:

BestBETs - Best Evidence Topics are a modification of the CAT.

CATMaker, software for creating CATs, from the Centre for Evidence Based Medicine, Oxford. 

CATWalk: a guide to critically appraised topics (University of Alberta)


LibGuide from the University of Groningen (in English)

Occupational therapy critically appraised topic
 
Physiopedia: Critically Appraised Topics

University of Texas Health Science Center - what is a CAT?

And here are some articles with links to PubMed:

How to perform a critically appraised topic: part 1, ask, search, and apply.

Kelly AM, Cronin P.

AJR Am J Roentgenol. 2011 Nov;197(5):1039-47.
PMID: 22021494

How to perform a critically appraised topic: part 2, appraise, evaluate, generate, and recommend.

Kelly AM, Cronin P.

AJR Am J Roentgenol. 2011 Nov;197(5):1048-55.
PMID: 22021495

How to write a critically appraised topic (CAT).

Sadigh G, Parker R, Kelly AM, Cronin P.

Acad Radiol. 2012 Jul;19(7):872-88.

There is also this:

Sauve S, Lee HN, Meade MD, et al. The critically appraised topic: a practical approach to learning critical appraisal. Ann Roy Soc Phys Surg Can 1995; 28:396–398

 

(One of the et al. is David Sackett, and I wonder if this is the original description of the idea).