History of QUADAS

QUADAS-3 is the current iteration of the QUADAS tool.

The original QUADAS tool was developed through a collaborative project between the Centre for Reviews and Dissemination, University of York, and the Academic Medical Centre at the University of Amsterdam.  It was funded through the HTA programme and was published in 2003.

The second version of the tool, QUADAS-2, was published in 2011.  This updated version made important improvement relative to the original tool, including distinguishing between bias and applicability, identifying 4 key domains supported by signaling questions to aid judgment on risk of bias, rating risk of bias and concerns about applicability as “high” and “low".

A modified version of QUADAS-2 is recommended for use in all Cochrane DTA reviews.  QUADAS has also been recommended for use by NICE and AHRQ and other major HTA organisations.