Evidence map›Paper›PMID 29277096›Full record

ReviewThe Korean journal of internal medicine2018

An overview of meta-analysis for clinicians.

Young Ho Lee

Abstract readReview
PubMed Full text at PMC Publisher
In one paragraph

Review in The Korean journal of internal medicine, 2018. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 141 papers, 67 of them syntheses that pooled it.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
141citing papers in PubMed, 67 pooled it
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

141 citing papers in PubMed, 67 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.

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  17. Influence of melatonin supplementation on cancer-related fatigue: a meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials.Clinical & translational oncology : official publication of the Federation of Spanish Oncology Societies and of the National Cancer Institute of Mexico · 2025
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  20. A Meta-analysis of the Regulation of Low-Density Lipoprotein Cholesterol and Proprotein Convertase Subtilisin-Kexin Type 9 with Inclisiran.American journal of cardiovascular drugs : drugs, devices, and other interventions · 2025 · on this map
    Pooled it

81 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.

4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

1 author.

Young Ho LeeDivision of Rheumatology, Department of Internal Medicine, Korea University Medical Center, Seoul, Korea.

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

The number of medical studies being published is increasing exponentially, and clinicians must routinely process large amounts of new information. Moreover, the results of individual studies are often insufficient to provide confident answers, as their results are not consistently reproducible. A meta-analysis is a statistical method for combining the results of different studies on the same topic and it may resolve conflicts among studies. Meta-analysis is being used increasingly and plays an important role in medical research. This review introduces the basic concepts, steps, advantages, and caveats of meta-analysis, to help clinicians understand it in clinical practice and research. A major advantage of a meta-analysis is that it produces a precise estimate of the effect size, with considerably increased statistical power, which is important when the power of the primary study is limited because of a small sample size. A meta-analysis may yield conclusive results when individual studies are inconclusive. Furthermore, meta-analyses investigate the source of variation and different effects among subgroups. In summary, a meta-analysis is an objective, quantitative method that provides less biased estimates on a specific topic. Understanding how to conduct a meta-analysis aids clinicians in the process of making clinical decisions.

Indexed as

Biomedical ResearchEvidence-Based MedicineMeta-Analysis as TopicAdvantageLimitationMeta-analysisStatistical analysis

Identifiers

PMID29277096
PMCPMC5840596

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
LicenceCC BY-NC
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.