A Critically Appraised Topic (CAT) is a structured, short (3-4 pages max) summary of evidence on a topic of interest, usually focused around a practical problem or question. A CAT is like a “quick and dirty” version of a systematic review, summarizing the best available research evidence on a topic. Usually more than one study is included in a CAT.
Key parts of a CAT include:
1) Question
2) Background
3) PICOC
4) Search strategy
5) Results
6) Conclusion
7) Limitations
8) Recommendation
9) References