392,549 papers found

In prognostic studies, a summary statistic such as a hazard ratio is often reported between low-expression and high-expression groups of a biomarker with a study-specific cutoff value. Recently, several meta-analyses of prognostic studies have been reported, but these studies simply combined hazard ratios provided by t…

INTRODUCTION: Individual participant data (IPD) systematic reviews and meta-analyses are often considered to be the gold standard for meta-analysis. In the ten years since the first review into the methodology and reporting practice of IPD reviews was published much has changed in the field. This paper investigates cur…

Heterogeneity in meta-analysis is most commonly estimated using a moment-based approach described by DerSimonian and Laird. However, this method has been shown to produce biased estimates. Alternative methods to estimate heterogeneity include the restricted maximum likelihood approach and those proposed by Paule and Ma…

OBJECTIVES: To investigate how often systematic reviewers encounter multiple trial effect estimates that are available for inclusion in a particular meta-analysis (multiplicity of results) and the methods they use to select effect estimates. STUDY DESIGN AND SETTING: We randomly sampled Cochrane and MEDLINE-indexed no…

We appraised the methodology, execution and quality of the five published meta-analyses that are based on the five randomized controlled trials which compared cardiotocography (CTG)+ST analysis to cardiotocography. The meta-analyses contained errors, either created de novo in handling of original data or from a failure…

A meta-analysis of studies on intracranial tumors and mobile phone use published by the end of 2012 was performed to evaluate the overall consistency of findings, assess the sensitivity of results to changes in the dataset, and try to detect the sources of between-study heterogeneity. Twenty-nine papers met our inclusi…

In meta-analysis, between-study heterogeneity indicates the presence of effect-modifiers and has implications for the interpretation of results in cost-effectiveness analysis and decision making. A distinction is usually made between true variability in treatment effects due to variation in patient populations or setti…

BACKGROUND: Proper scientific reporting is necessary to ensure the correct interpretation of study results by readers. The main objective of this study was to assess the quality of reporting in abstracts of systematic reviews (SRs) with meta-analyses in periodontology and implant dentistry. Differences in reporting of…

BACKGROUND: AI demonstrates considerable potential in nursing education. However, its specific effects on knowledge acquisition, practical skills, satisfaction, competence, and confidence remain inadequately characterized. OBJECTIVE: This study aims to assess the effects of AI on nursing students' education. METHODS:…

INTRODUCTION: Network meta-analysis (NMA) plays an important role in comparative effectiveness research, particularly in fields such as traditional and complementary medicine, where multiple interventions often need to be assessed within a single evidence framework. However, conducting NMA remains labor-intensive, meth…

INTRODUCTION: A patent processus vaginalis (PPV) is frequently observed during laparoscopic orchiopexy in infants with cryptorchidism. Nevertheless, the decision to primarily close the PPV following laparoscopic orchiopexy remains a subject of debate. This protocol therefore outlines the scope and methodology for a sys…

INTRODUCTION: Overweight and obesity are major global public health challenges and increase the risk of type 2 diabetes, dyslipidaemia, hypertension and cardiovascular disease. Exercise is a safe and cost-effective non-pharmacological strategy to improve cardiometabolic health, yet the optimal combinations of exercise…

BACKGROUND: Gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM) is a prevalent pregnancy complication that can pose numerous adverse health effects on both mothers and newborns. Accurate prediction of the risk of GDM serves as a valuable supplement to prenatal education and clinical decision-making. Compared with traditional predictio…

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVE: Multicategory diagnostic tests are frequently utilized in clinical practice. Estimation of the predictive value of each category is an essential part of these tests, yet they are often wrongly reported due to inappropriate analysis as a proportion ignoring pretest probability or prevalence. Al…

OBJECTIVE: To accurately predict neurological outcomes among survivors after cardiac arrest (CA), we aim to analyze the experimental data of epileptiform electroencephalography (EEG) in CA survivors to explore the value of predictors of epileptiform EEG. We also aim to refine the timeline of EEG examination, thus provi…

INTRODUCTION: Previous reviews have investigated the relationship between empathy and burnout. However, these are now out of date, did not capture the effect of the pandemic, did not include healthcare professionals other than doctors and nurses or medical students, did not assess the impact of differences in professio…

OBJECTIVES: To implement and evaluate a semi-automated approach to facilitate rating the Grading, Recommendation, Assessment, Development and Evaluation (GRADE) certainty of evidence (CoE) for direct comparisons within two living network meta-analysis. METHODS: For each of three GRADE domains (study limitations, indir…

Although clinical questions regarding treatment and disease mechanisms frequently arise in clinical practice, clear answers may not always be available. Investigating these issues could lead to new therapeutic strategies and further advancements in clinical pharmacies. This review presents three examples in which meta-…

INTRODUCTION: The incidence of renal cell carcinoma has steadily been on the increase due to the increased use of imaging to identify incidental masses. Although survival has also improved because of early detection, overdiagnosis and overtreatment of benign renal masses are associated with significant morbidity, as pa…

INTRODUCTION: Identifying difficult airways and avoiding unanticipated difficult airways through difficult airway assessment are crucial for patient safety prior to airway management. Therefore, accurately predicting difficult airways through airway assessment is a fundamental and significant technique in airway manage…