Pooling research results: benefits and limitations of meta-analysis
Φόρτωση...
Ημερομηνία
Συγγραφείς
Ioannidis, J. P.
Lau, J.
Τίτλος Εφημερίδας
Περιοδικό ISSN
Τίτλος τόμου
Εκδότης
Περίληψη
Τύπος
Είδος δημοσίευσης σε συνέδριο
Είδος περιοδικού
peer-reviewed
Είδος εκπαιδευτικού υλικού
Όνομα συνεδρίου
Όνομα περιοδικού
Jt Comm J Qual Improv
Όνομα βιβλίου
Σειρά βιβλίου
Έκδοση βιβλίου
Συμπληρωματικός/δευτερεύων τίτλος
Περιγραφή
BACKGROUND: Meta-analysis, the systematic and quantitative synthesis of evidence, has developed considerably in the 1990s and is emerging as an important methodology in medical decision making. As a research methodology, meta-analysis has benefits and limitations that must be acknowledged in its application. EXAMPLES OF BENEFITS: The benefits of meta-analysis include the ability to improve the power of small or inconclusive studies to answer questions and the ability to identify sources of diversity across various types of studies. Meta-analysis may reveal how heterogeneity among populations affects the effectiveness of medical interventions in different settings and in different patients. It can also help detect biases, such as publication bias and "Tower of Babel" bias, as well as deficiencies in the design, conduct, analysis, and interpretation of research. In this way, it can also stimulate improvements in the quality of the data needed to optimize medical care. EXAMPLES OF LIMITATIONS: Meta-analysis cannot improve the quality or reporting of the original studies. Other limitations come from misapplications of the method, such as when study diversity is ignored or mishandled in the analysis or when the variability of patient populations, the quality of the data, and the potential for underlying biases are not addressed. CONCLUSIONS: Meta-analysis has promoted the sense that obtaining evidence is a global enterprise and that complete information needs to be evaluated and synthesized to obtain the most unbiased results. Analyzing sources of bias and diversity is essential to performing, understanding, and using meta-analyses in medical care.
Περιγραφή
Λέξεις-κλειδιά
Bias (Epidemiology), Data Interpretation, Statistical, Decision Making, Organizational, *Evidence-Based Medicine, Humans, *Meta-Analysis as Topic, Prospective Studies, Reproducibility of Results, Research Design/*standards, Retrospective Studies, Treatment Outcome
Θεματική κατηγορία
Παραπομπή
Σύνδεσμος
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/10481815
Γλώσσα
en
Εκδίδον τμήμα/τομέας
Όνομα επιβλέποντος
Εξεταστική επιτροπή
Γενική Περιγραφή / Σχόλια
Ίδρυμα και Σχολή/Τμήμα του υποβάλλοντος
Πανεπιστήμιο Ιωαννίνων. Σχολή Επιστημών Υγείας. Τμήμα Ιατρικής