LibGuides: Literature Reviews in Medicine and Health: Meta-Analysis

Meta-analysis

A quantitative method of combining the results of independent studies (usually drawn from the published literature) and synthesizing summaries and conclusions which may be used to evaluate therapeutic effectiveness, plan new studies, etc., with application chiefly in the areas of research and medicine.

Source: MeSH: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/mesh/68015201

Technique that statistically combines the results of quantitative study to provide a more precise effect of the results.

SEARCH aims for exhaustive, comprehensive searching. May use funnel plot to assess completeness. requires either very sensitive search to retrieve all studies or separately conceived quantitative and qualitative strategies.

APPRAISAL includes quality assessment that may determine inclusion/exclusion and/or sensitivity analyses.

SYNTHESIS is graphical and tabular with narrative commentary.

ANALYSIS includes numerical analysis of measures of effect assuming absence of heterogeneity.

Source: A typology of reviews: an analysis of 14 review types and associated methodologies. Grant MJ & Booth A. Health information and Libraries Journal year: 2009 26(2):91 -108. doi: 10.1111/j.1471-1842.2009.00848.x.

Meta-Analysis Standards

PRISMA for Meta-Analyses
checklist of essential reporting items to include when completing a network meta-analysis

Tools for MetaAnalyses

Meta Essentials
Meta-Essentials is a free tool for meta-analysis. It facilitates the integration and synthesis of effect sizes from different studies. The tool consists of a set of workbooks designed for Microsoft Excel that, based on your input, automatically produces all the required statistics, tables, figures, and more.
MetaLight
MetaLight is a software application designed to support the teaching and learning of meta-analysis. It is freely available and, as it uses the Silverlight browser plugin, can be run on just about any PC, thus facilitating its use in teaching environments such as PC labs.
Metafor
The metafor package is a free and open-source add-on for conducting meta-analyses with the statistical software environment R. The package consists of a collection of functions that allow the user to calculate various effect size or outcome measures, fit equal-, fixed-, random-, and mixed-effects models to such data, carry out moderator and meta-regression analyses, and create various types of meta-analytical plots.
OpenMeta
Completely open-source, cross-platform software for advanced meta-analysis.
OpenMEE
OpenMEE is open-source software for performing meta-analysis suited to the need of ecologist and evolutionary biologists. This program is made possible by the National Science Foundation (NSF).