Scoping reviews are not brand new, but for reasons that are unclear, they seem to be becoming more common. Reporters may encounter them with increasing frequency and wonder what purpose they might serve for journalists. Their greatest use is providing context and understanding of the parameters of a given topic. For example, they might cover the scope of what’s been published about how the most recent blood pressure guidelines are being put into practice. In this way, they are primarily informational and a good way to gain, well, a full scope of the current status of a subject area. They tend to be descriptive and fall short of the more focused analysis of a systematic review.
