NEWS RELEASE
DARE EXPANSION PLANS ANNOUNCED
Thursday, 14 June 2007
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
CRD announces new funding to help keep DARE (the Database of Abstracts of Reviews of Effects) up to date.
Systematic reviews are widely recognised as reliable sources of information about the effects of healthcare interventions. But as with individual studies, they can be hard to find, may have flaws and can be difficult to interpret.
Since 1994, CRD has provided a solution to these problems by producing and maintaining DARE, a database which uniquely provides access to over 4500 abstracts of quality assessed and critically appraised systematic reviews. The database has become a key resource for health professionals, policy makers and researchers around the world . It is free to access via the CRD website (www.crd.york.ac.uk/) and is also an important component of the Cochrane Library.
Since the inception of DARE, the number of systematic reviews being produced world wide has been increasing year on year. This growth is expected to continue as systematic reviews expand into new areas of health and social care.
Additional resources for DARE have recently been agreed with the Department of Health with effect from October 2007. The Department have also approved additional funding to process the existing backlog of records.
CRD Director Lesley Stewart said; “although CRD is currently producing a high volume of new abstracts (over 600 abstracts are added every year), current resource has not enabled us to keep pace with the rising number of published reviews. This additional capacity will enable us to keep DARE up to date and by doing so enhance its usefulness to users.”
Plans to recruit new review staff and additional external abstractors to deal with the extra work are already in place and we hope to start the expansion later this year.
Further information can be obtained from Paul Wilson, Tel: 01904 321073; email: pmw7@york.ac.uk