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Meta-analysis, collaborative overview, systematic review: what does it all mean?
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Short Description:
Mike Clarke’s 9-minute read on meta-analysis, collaborative overview, systematic review.
Key Concepts addressed:- 1-8 More is not necessarily better
- 2-5 People should not know which treatment they get
- 2-11 All fair comparisons and outcomes should be reported
- 2-12 Single studies can be misleading
Details
Summary
Bringing together the evidence from randomised controlled trials is increasingly common. Depending on the techniques used, the process might be called a systematic review, meta-analysis or collaborative overview. All relevant trials are identified and those of a satisfactory standard are reviewed. In a meta-analysis, each trial is assessed separately and the summary statistics are then combined to give an overall result. Neither meta-analyses nor systematic reviews are a substitute for prospective clinical trials, rather, they are a complement to them.