Systematic reviews in healthcare : meta analysis in context

Contributors viii Foreword xiii Introduction 1 Rationale, potentials, and promise of systematic reviews 3 MATTHIAS EGGER, GEORGE DAVEY SMITH, KEITH O’ROURKE Part I: Systematic reviews of controlled trials 2 Principles of and procedures for systematic reviews 23 MATTHIAS EGGER, GEORGE DAVEY SMITH 3 Problems and limitations in conducting systematic reviews 43 MATTHIAS EGGER, KAY DICKERSIN, GEORGE DAVEY SMITH 4 Identifying randomised trials 69 CAROL LEFEBVRE, MICHAEL J CLARKE 5 Assessing the quality of randomised controlled trials 87 PETER JÜNI, DOUGLAS G ALTMAN, MATTHIAS EGGER 6 Obtaining individual patient data from randomised controlled trials 109 MICHAEL J CLARKE, LESLEY A STEWART 7 Assessing the quality of reports of systematic reviews: the QUOROM statement compared to other tools 122 BEVERLEY SHEA, CATHERINE DUBÉ, DAVID MOHER Part II: Investigating variability within and between studies 8 Going beyond the grand mean: subgroup analysis in meta-analysis of randomised trials 143 GEORGE DAVEY SMITH, MATTHIAS EGGER v 9 Why and how sources of heterogeneity should be investigated 157 SIMON G THOMPSON 10 Analysing the relationship between treatment benefit and underlying risk: precautions and recommendations 176 STEPHEN J SHARP 11 Investigating and dealing with publication and other biases 189 JONATHAN A C STERNE, MATTHIAS EGGER, GEORGE DAVEY SMITH Part III: Systematic reviews of observational studies 12 Systematic reviews of observational studies 211 MATTHIAS EGGER, GEORGE DAVEY SMITH, MARTIN SCHNEIDER 13 Systematic reviews of evaluations of prognostic variables 228 DOUGLAS G ALTMAN 14 Systematic reviews of evaluations of diagnostic and screening tests 248 JONATHAN J DEEKS Part IV: Statistical methods and computer software 15 Statistical methods for examining heterogeneity and combining results from several studies in meta-analysis 285 JONATHAN J DEEKS, DOUGLAS G ALTMAN, MICHAEL J BRADBURN 16 Effect measures for meta-analysis of trials with binary outcomes 313 JONATHAN J DEEKS, DOUGLAS G ALTMAN 17 Meta-analysis software 336 JONATHAN A C STERNE, MATTHIAS EGGER, ALEXANDER J SUTTON 18 Meta-analysis in StataTM 347 JONATHAN A C STERNE, MICHAEL J BRADBURN, MATTHIAS EGGER Part V: Using systematic reviews in practice 19 Applying the results of systematic reviews at the bedside 373 FINLAY A MCALISTER 20 Numbers needed to treat derived from meta-analyses: pitfalls and cautions 386 SHAH EBRAHIM CONTENTS vi 21 Using systematic reviews in clinical guideline development 400 MARTIN ECCLES, NICK FREEMANTLE, JAMES MASON 22 Using systematic reviews for evidence based policy making 410 J A MUIR GRAY 23 Using systematic reviews for economic evaluation 419 MIRANDA MUGFORD 24 Using systematic reviews and registers of ongoing trials for scientific and ethical trial design, monitoring, and reporting 429 IAIN CHALMERS Part VI: The Cochrane Collaboration 25 The Cochrane Collaboration in the 20th century 447 GERD ANTES, ANDREW D OXMAN FOR THE COCHRANE COLLABORATION 26 The Cochrane Collaboration in the 21st century: ten challenges and one reason why they must be met 459 ANDREW D OXMAN Index 475 CONTENTS vii