OBJECTIVE To synthesise evidence on the average bias and heterogeneity associated with reported methodological features of randomized trials. DESIGN Systematic review of meta-epidemiological studies. METHODS We retrieved eligible studies included in a recent AHRQ-EPC review on this topic (latest search September 2012), and searched Ovid MEDLINE and Ovid EMBASE for studies indexed from Jan 2...

BACKGROUND A serum galactomannan (GM) assay has been approved for diagnosing invasive aspergillosis (IA). However, the role of the BAL-GM assay has not been well established. Therefore, we conducted a metaanalysis to determine the overall accuracy of BAL-GM in the diagnosis of IA. METHODS After a systematic review of English-language studies, the sensitivity (SEN), specificity (SPE), and posi...

This paper investigates how inconsistency (as measured by the I2 statistic) among studies in a meta-analysis may differ, according to the type of outcome data and effect measure. We used hierarchical models to analyse data from 3873 binary, 5132 continuous and 880 mixed outcome meta-analyses within the Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews. Predictive distributions for inconsistency expected ...

BACKGROUND Arterial cardiovascular and cerebrovascular adverse events associated with oral contraceptives (OC) are a major concern to the clinician. This paper aggregates the findings of seven recent oral contraceptive studies on the risk of acute myocardial infarction (MI) among users of second (2gen) and third (3gen) generation OC. METHODS Odds ratios (OR) from seven original studies publis...

BACKGROUND Literature review has shown that some years back the fertility desires of people living with HIV was low but in the recent years, it was reported as increasing. However, little is known about the strength of association of fertility desire of HIV positive people with antiretroviral therapy (ART) experience, age, sex, education level, and number of children. METHODS In these meta-an...

Despite official support for the efficacy of cholesterol reduction, considerable controversy exists, and meta-analyses of this topic have produced conflicting results. The authors assessed the variability of meta-analyses, evaluating the cardiovascular value of cholesterol reduction while attempting to explain the variability. Metaanalyses were identified by electronic search and citation track...

This study investigates the efficiency of energy use and technology gap in Indonesian sugar industry factors influencing efficiency. Using firm-level data mills 42 regencies Indonesia from 2010 to 2014, this applies meta stochastic frontier based on input distance function. The metafrontier analysis is applied East Java province other provinces Indonesia. All used are secondary taken Central Bo...

Recently, several studies have reported that inflammatory response and elevated platelet counts may be associated with the poor prognosis of colorectal cancer. This meta-analysis was designed to analyze and evaluate the prognostic role of elevated preoperative or pretreatment neutrophils-to-lymphocytes ratio, platelet-to-lymphocytes ratio or platelet counts in patients with colorectal cancer. W...

OBJECTIVES Synthesizing qualitative research is an important means of ensuring the needs, preferences, and experiences of patients are taken into account by service providers and policy makers, but the range of methods available can appear confusing. This study presents the methods for synthesizing qualitative research most used in health research to-date and, specifically those with a potentia...