Tonelli Marcello, Hackam Dan, Garg Amit X
Department of Medicine, University of Alberta, Edmonton, Canada.
Methods Mol Biol. 2009;473:217-33. doi: 10.1007/978-1-59745-385-1_13.
A systematic review uses an explicitly defined process to comprehensively identify all studies pertaining to a specific focused question, appraise the methods of the studies, summarize the results, identify reasons for different findings across studies, and cite limitations of current knowledge. Meta-analyses usually combine aggregate-level data reported in each primary study, which may provide a more precise estimate of the "true effect" than any individual study. However, the conclusions may be limited by between-trial heterogeneity, publication bias, or deficits in the conduct or reporting of individual primary studies.
系统评价采用明确界定的过程，全面识别与特定重点问题相关的所有研究，评估研究方法，总结研究结果，找出不同研究结果存在差异的原因，并指明现有知识的局限性。荟萃分析通常会合并每项原始研究报告的汇总数据，这可能比任何单个研究更精确地估计“真实效应”。然而，结论可能会受到试验间异质性、发表偏倚或单个原始研究在实施或报告方面的缺陷的限制。
