History and structure
Established in January 1994, CRD is a body commissioned by the English NHS R&D Programme, to provide the NHS with important information on the effectiveness of treatments and the delivery and organization of health care. It is the sibling organization of the UK Cochrane Centre.

Mission
The principal aims of the CRD are:

• To carry out credible, rigorous evidence syntheses (including systematic reviews) of research findings on the effectiveness and cost effectiveness of health and social care relevant to the NHS.
• To improve the accessibility of these and other research reviews by maintaining and updating an international register of research reviews and providing a single access point to this information for enquirers in the NHS.
• To provide simple and effective mechanisms by which the results of systematic reviews on the clinical effectiveness, cost-effectiveness, and acceptability of health service interventions can be communicated rapidly to relevant audiences.

How CRD works
CRD is divided into three teams: Reviews, Dissemination, and Information.

Systematic reviews are carried out by a research team comprised of two reviewers and a member of the Information Team, using established methodological guidelines. A panel of experts is recruited for each review to advise and to help ensure accuracy and relevance to the NHS. The CRD Information Service is available to health professionals, researchers, managers, and information workers. It answers enquiries about reviews and economic evaluations relating to health care, and acts as a helpdesk for the CRD databases.

Dissemination activities
Most of the CRD's dissemination activity focuses on raising awareness of key messages from research, and providing key research intelligence in easily accessible and usable forms.

The core dissemination products include CRD reports, summaries, journal articles, and research findings summarized for the lay and professional media.
Three databases have been produced by CRD and are publicly available: the Database of Abstracts of Reviews of Effects (DARE), the NHS Economic Evaluation Database and the Health Technology Assessment (HTA) database. The HTA database is of particular relevance to technology assessment agencies as it contains records of ongoing and completed projects and publications of HTA agencies around the world. All CRD databases are available free of charge and can be accessed via the Internet: (www.york.ac.uk/inst/crd/crddatabases.htm) and as part of the Cochrane Library.

Current projects (a selection)

• Curative catheter ablation in atrial fibrillation and typical atrial flutter 
• Developing methods for the narrative synthesis of quantitative and qualitative data in systematic reviews of effects. 
• RCTs for policy interventions? A review of reviews and meta-regression 
• Screening to prevent pre-term birth 
• Suicide and bereavement 
• Systematic overview of population tobacco control interventions and their effects on social inequalities in health 
• Updating 'Undertaking systematic reviews of research on effectiveness: CRD's guidance for those carrying out or commissioning reviews'.

Future plans

• To maintain and further develop the quality, quantity, and efficiency of the reviews carried out and commissioned by CRD
• To increase further the Centre's portfolio of research into review methods.