392,269 papers found

OBJECTIVES: Noninferiority trials have become commonplace in recent years. Like individual clinical trials, meta-analyses can also investigate noninferiority. However, certain important topics have to be considered. METHODS: The proposed methods in this paper have their origin in the framework of noninferiority trials…

One of the most frequently cited reasons for conducting a meta-analysis is the increase in statistical power that it affords a reviewer. This article demonstrates that fixed-effects meta-analysis increases statistical power by reducing the standard error of the weighted average effect size (T.) and, in so doing, shrink…

In a meta-analysis of randomized trials comparing recombinant and urinary FSH for ovarian stimulation in infertility treatment cycles, the clinical pregnancy rate per cycle started was significantly higher with recombinant FSH. Before the results of the different trials can be pooled, it is important to determine wheth…

Meta-analysis is a method of synthesizing the results of independent studies. We consider the case in which there are multiple treatments and a control, with the goal of estimating the relative effect of each treatment based on continuous outcomes. Even when all data are available, rather than only summary data, it has…

K. S. Dobson (1989) conducted a meta-analysis of 28 studies of cognitive-behavioral therapy for depression that used the Beck Depression Inventory as outcome measure. He concluded that the outcome of this type of therapy was superior to that of other forms of psychotherapy and to that of pharmacotherapy. The present st…

Meta-analysis, the qualitative and quantitative integration of available research information, is increasingly used in clinical research. This report examines the qualitative elements of meta-analysis through critical review of two published examples that assessed the effect of diethylstilboestrol (DES) on miscarriage…

This study deals with some of the judgmental factors involved in selecting effect sizes from within the studies that enter a meta-analysis. Particular attention is paid to the conceptual redundancy rule that Smith, Glass, and Miller (1980) used in their study of the effectiveness of psychotherapy for deciding which eff…

INTRODUCTION: Paediatric phase I oncology trials establish safe dosing and provide preliminary efficacy data for investigational anti-cancer agents in children. The aim of the proposed systematic review is to identify the risk and benefit ratio for targeted therapy agents in paediatric Phase I trials in oncology. METH…

Although systematic reviews, meta-analyses, and network meta-analyses are central to evidence-based medicine, most of those assessing the effectiveness of perioperative analgesic interventions have critical limitations that may lead to flawed conclusions, making them clinically uncertain: major concerns include the lac…

Network meta-analysis (NMA) is widely used in healthcare decision-making, where estimates of the effect of multiple treatments on outcomes are required. For time-to-event outcomes such as survival or disease progression the most common approach is to model log hazard ratios; however, this relies on the proportional haz…

BACKGROUND: The number of positive psychological interventions, including hope interventions to foster well-being and decrease the huge burden of mental conditions, has exponentially increased. Consequently, the number of hope outcome measures has also increased. The Hope Index (HI) is an extensively used hope outcome…

Network meta-analysis (NMA) is becoming increasingly important, especially in the field of medicine, as it allows for comparisons across multiple trials with different interventions. For time-to-event data, that is, survival data, traditional NMA based on the proportional hazards (PH) assumption simply synthesizes repo…

INTRODUCTION: An increasing number of randomised controlled trials (RCTs) have compared the analgesic effects of erector spinae plane block with those of intercostal nerve block for postoperative analgesia in various surgeries, but the results have been inconsistent. This protocol of a systematic review and meta-analys…

INTRODUCTION: In light of the rising prevalence of sedentary behaviour worldwide, its impact on health has become a subject of growing interest. To clarify whether there is a significant correlation between sedentary behaviour and chronic pelvic pain in women and to explore its potential clinical implications, this stu…

We read with great interest the systematic review and meta-analysis by Cigrovski Berkovicpublished recentlywhich evaluated the association between type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) and pancreatic neuroendocrine tumors (pNETs). The study identified T2DM as a risk factor for the development of pNETs and linked it to poor t…

BACKGROUND: Reference intervals, which define an interval in which a specific proportion of measurements from a healthy population are expected to fall, are commonly used in medical practice. Synthesizing information from multiple studies through meta-analysis can provide a more precise and representative reference int…

Network meta-analysis (NMA), an increasingly appealing method of statistical analysis, is superior to traditional analysis methods in terms of being able to compare multiple medical treatment methods in one analysis run. In recent years, the prevalence of NMA in the medical literature has increased significantly, while…

Meta-analysis is a powerful tool to synthesize findings from multiple studies. The normal-normal random-effects model is widely used to account for between-study heterogeneity. However, meta-analyses of sparse data, which may arise when the event rate is low for binary or count outcomes, pose a challenge to the normal-…

Meta-analysis is an essential tool to comprehensively synthesize and quantitatively evaluate results of multiple clinical studies in evidence-based medicine. In many meta-analyses, the characteristics of some studies might markedly differ from those of the others, and these outlying studies can generate biases and pote…

INTRODUCTION: Acute heart failure (AHF) is a critical, costly condition with high mortality rates, affecting millions annually. Despite advances in cardiovascular care, AHF treatment lacks robust evidence. AHF commonly manifests with sudden heart failure symptoms such as pulmonary congestion, and the pathophysiology in…