Once the effect of the intervention on an outcome is calculated within each trial (either the

RR or MD), the next step is to combine these treatment effects for each outcome together to calculate an overall RR (dichotomous variable) or MD (continuous variable) between two treatments (meta-analysis). Combining results from individual studies is not simply achieved by treating all studies equally and averaging their data. Instead, the studies are combined using a weighted average. The contribution of a trial to the overall effect size (weight) depends on its variance (the certainty of the trial’s effect size). Studies with smaller estimates of variance (greater precision) and/or with more events, make a larger contribution to the overall effect estimate of an intervention.14 Figure 2 shows a graphical representation (known as GSI-IX manufacturer the forest plot) commonly used in systematic reviews to summarize data from a systematic review of haemoglobin targets in patients with CKD.1 In this example, studies are pooled to examine the risk of mortality using human recombinant erythropoietin to treat anaemia (higher haemoglobin vs lower haemoglobin level) in people with CKD.1 In this forest plot: 1 The left hand column shows the eight included randomized, Selleck BAY 80-6946 controlled trials that have mortality

data available for analysis. In this figure they are in chronological order. What happens if the meta-analysis is trying to combine apples with oranges? In other words, does the systematic review aggregate

poor-quality trials that possess a substantial risk of bias, together with higher-quality trials? Such inclusion of low-quality trials may provide an unreliable conclusion about treatment efficacy or toxicity. To explore the possibility that a meta-analysis includes trials of lower quality and provides a less precise estimate of treatment effect, the reader of a systematic review might assess whether the authors have conducted a formal assessment of method quality PRKACG for each included trial. Specifically, a systematic review should report an assessment of each domain considered to be indicative of study quality. These are: 1 Allocation concealment (‘selection bias’): Allocation concealment is adequate when the trial investigators cannot determine the treatment group to which a patient has been assigned. Knowledge of treatment allocation may lead to exaggerated treatment effects. It has been shown through systematic review of meta-analyses that the estimate of effect summarized by meta-analysis may be substantially more beneficial to the intervention when the trial conduct of included studies does not follow these principles, and particularly when allocation concealment is inadequate.