BACKGROUND Antidepressants are prescribed widely to manage low back pain. There are a number of systematic reviews and meta-analyses which have investigated the efficacy of the treatments, while the methodological quality of them has not been assessed yet. This study aims to evaluate the methodological quality of the systematic reviews and meta-analyses investigating the effect of antidepressants on low back pain. METHODS A systematic search was conducted in PubMed, EMBASE, Medline, and Cochrane Library databases up to November 2018. The 16-item Assessment of Multiple Systematic Reviews (AMSTAR2) scale was used to assess the methodological quality of the studies. Systematic reviews and meta-analyses of the Antidepressants treatment effects on low back pain published in English language were included. There was no limitation on the type of Antidepressants drugs, clinical setting, and study population, while non-systematical reviews and qualitative and narrative reviews were excluded. RESULTS A total of 25 systematic reviews and meta-analyses were evaluated; the studies were reported between 1992 and 2017. Obtained results from AMSTAR2 showed that 11 (44%), 9 (36%) and 5 (20%) of the included studies had high, moderate and low qualities, respectively. 13(52%) of studies assessed risk of bias and 2(20%) of meta analyses considered publication bias. Also, 16 (64%) of the included reviews provided a satisfactory explanation for any heterogeneity observed in the results. CONCLUSIONS Although the trend of publishing high quality papers in ADs effect on LBP increased recently, performing more high-quality SRs and MAs in this field with precise subgroups of the type of pains, the class of drugs and their dosages may give clear and more reliable evidence to help clinicians and policymakers.

中文翻译：

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使用更新的AMSTAR对抗抑郁药对下背痛的效果进行系统评价和荟萃分析的方法学质量评估。

背景技术抗抑郁药被广泛地处方用于治疗腰痛。有许多系统的综述和荟萃分析研究了治疗的功效，但尚未评估其方法学质量。这项研究旨在评估系统评价和荟萃分析的方法学质量，以调查抗抑郁药对下腰痛的影响。方法截至2018年11月，在PubMed，EMBASE，Medline和Cochrane图书馆数据库中进行了系统搜索。采用16项多系统评价评估（AMSTAR2）量表评估研究的方法学质量。包括以英语发表的抗抑郁药治疗腰痛的系统评价和荟萃分析。对抗抑郁药的类型，临床环境和研究人群没有限制，但非系统性评价以及定性和叙述性评价均被排除在外。结果总共进行了25次系统评价和荟萃分析。该研究报告于1992年至2017年之间进行。AMSTAR2获得的结果显示，纳入研究的11项（44％），9项（36％）和5项（20％）分别具有高，中和低质量。13（52％）的研究评估了偏倚风险，而2（20％）的荟萃分析认为出版物偏倚。此外，纳入的评论中有16个（64％）对结果中观察到的任何异质性提供了令人满意的解释。结论尽管在AD中发表高质量论文的趋势最近对LBP产生了影响，