Discussion on "Testing small study effects in multivariate meta-analysis" by Chuan Hong, Georgia Salanti, Sally Morton, Richard Riley, Haitao Chu, Stephen E. Kimmel, and Yong Chen.

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.

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.

Who cites it

11 citing papers in PubMed, 7 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.

1. Intraoperative neuromonitoring in degenerative cervical myelopathy surgery: a systematic review and meta-analysis of diagnostic accuracy and postoperative neurological outcomes.European spine journal : official publication of the European Spine Society, the European Spinal Deformity Society, and the European Section of the Cervical Spine Research Society · 2026
   Pooled it
2. Diagnostic accuracy of circulating long noncoding RNAs in hepatocellular carcinoma: a systematic review and meta-analysis.BMC gastroenterology · 2026
   Pooled it
3. Performance of Artificial Intelligence Models in Predicting Responsiveness of Hepatocellular Carcinoma to Transarterial Chemoembolization (TACE): A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.Journal of the American College of Radiology : JACR · 2026
   Pooled it
4. Diagnostic accuracy of radiomics and artificial intelligence models in diagnosing lymph node metastasis in head and neck cancers: a systematic review and meta-analysis.Neuroradiology · 2025
   Pooled it
5. Ability of pulse oximetry-derived indices to predict hypotension after spinal anesthesia for cesarean delivery: A systematic review and meta-analysis.PloS one · 2025
   Pooled it
6. A meta-analysis on the diagnostic utility of ultrasound in pediatric distal forearm fractures.Emergency radiology · 2024
   Pooled it
7. Radiomics for differentiation of gliomas from primary central nervous system lymphomas: a systematic review and meta-analysis.Frontiers in oncology · 2024
   Pooled it
8. Diagnostic Accuracy of Lung Ultrasound for Pneumonia in Acutely and Critically Ill Neonates, Children, and Young Adults: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.Diagnostics (Basel, Switzerland) · 2025
   Review
9. Diagnostic performance of different imaging modalities for splenic malignancies: A comparative meta-analysis.European journal of radiology open · 2024
   Article
10. Accuracy of Intraoperative Neuromonitoring in the Diagnosis of Intraoperative Neurological Decline in the Setting of Spinal Surgery-A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.Global spine journal · 2024
    Article
11. Predictive ability of pulse oximetry-derived indices for hypotension after spinal anaesthesia for caesarean section: protocol for a systematic review and meta-analysis.BMJ open · 2023
    Article

Corrections and comments

• Comment on
  Testing small study effects in multivariate meta-analysis.2020

Authors and funding

1 author.

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

Abstract

PubMed holds no abstract for this paper.