Conducting and interpreting high-quality systematic reviews and meta-analyses

Rajat Kalra; Pankaj Arora; Charity Morgan; Fadi G Hage; Ami E Iskandrian; Navkaranbir S Bajaj

doi:10.1007/s12350-016-0598-9

Conducting and interpreting high-quality systematic reviews and meta-analyses

J Nucl Cardiol. 2017 Apr;24(2):471-481. doi: 10.1007/s12350-016-0598-9. Epub 2016 Aug 2.

Authors

Rajat Kalra¹, Pankaj Arora^{2

3}, Charity Morgan⁴, Fadi G Hage^{2

3}, Ami E Iskandrian², Navkaranbir S Bajaj^{5

6}

Affiliations

¹ Department of Medicine, University of Alabama at Birmingham, Birmingham, AL, USA.
² Division of Cardiovascular Disease, University of Alabama at Birmingham, BDB D-201, 1808 7th Avenue South, Birmingham, AL, 35294-0012, USA.
³ Section of Cardiology, Birmingham Veterans Affairs Medical Center, Birmingham, AL, USA.
⁴ Department of Biostatistics, University of Alabama at Birmingham, Birmingham, AL, USA.
⁵ Division of Cardiovascular Disease, University of Alabama at Birmingham, BDB D-201, 1808 7th Avenue South, Birmingham, AL, 35294-0012, USA. nbajaj@uabmc.edu.
⁶ Section of Cardiology, Birmingham Veterans Affairs Medical Center, Birmingham, AL, USA. nbajaj@uabmc.edu.

PMID: 27484213
DOI: 10.1007/s12350-016-0598-9

Abstract

Systematic reviews and meta-analyses are powerful tools for summarizing existing literature and combining evidence from multiple studies. These methods employ complex searches, statistical techniques, and presentation techniques with which the clinical audience may not be very familiar. This review article aims to familiarize the clinical audience with the various techniques employed to conduct a high-quality systematic review and meta-analysis.

Keywords: Systematic review; meta-analysis; network meta-analysis.

Publication types

Review
Systematic Review

MeSH terms

Evidence-Based Medicine / standards*
Guidelines as Topic*
Internationality
Meta-Analysis as Topic*
Quality Control*
Review Literature as Topic*