Reporting quality of systematic review abstracts in articles hand and wrist pathology: a review

**Background**: An increasing number of systematic reviews are published on an annual basis. Although perusal of the full text of articles is preferable, abstracts are sometimes relied upon to guide clinical decisions. Despite this, the abstracts of systematic reviews have historically been poorly reported. We evaluated the reporting quality of systematic review abstracts within hand and wrist pathology literature. **Methods**: We searched MEDLINE®, EMBASE and Cochrane Library from inception to December 2017 for systematic reviews relating to hand and wrist pathology. The 12-item PRISMA-A checklist was used to assess abstract reporting quality. **Results**: A total of 114 abstracts were included. Most related to fracture (38%) or arthritis (17%) management. Forty-seven systematic reviews (41%) included meta-analysis. Mean PRISMA-A score was 3.6/12 with Cochrane reviews having the highest mean score and hand-specific journals having the lowest. Abstracts longer than 300 words (mean difference [MD]: 1.43, 95% CI [0.74, 2.13]; p