This review is badly reported, so it is difficult to determine whether it is of good quality. The inclusion criteria and details of the search strategy and review process have been taken from the earlier review. It is unclear whether the search strategy was designed to identify trials of patients with post hepatitis C cirrhosis. No details of study validity are reported, and little information on the individual RCTs is provided. The methods used for combining data from trials is appropriate but heterogeneity is not reported. It is difficult to determine whether the authors' conclusions are justified given that so little information on methods and included trials is given.
It should be noted that several other areas were reviewed in this paper, covering mortality data, efficacy of ribavirin in patients with post hepatitis C cirrhosis, and a meta-analysis of interferon RCTs and non-randomised controlled studies including exclusively patients with post hepatitis C cirrhosis reporting data on morbidity and mortality. However, since there was no report of systematic methods to select, assess, and summarise studies in these categories, these data have not been relayed in this abstract.