L'Abbé K A, Detsky A S, O'Rourke K
Ann Intern Med. 1987 Aug;107(2):224-33. doi: 10.7326/0003-4819-107-2-224.
Meta-analysis is the process of combining study results that can be used to draw conclusions about therapeutic effectiveness or to plan new studies. We review important design and statistical issues of this process. The design issues include protocol development, objectives, literature search, publication bias, measures of study outcomes, and quality of the data. The statistical issues include consistency (homogeneity) of study outcomes, and techniques for pooling results from several studies. Guidelines are provided to assess the quality of meta-analyses based on our discussion of the design and statistical issues. Limitations and areas for further development of this approach are discussed; researchers should come to a general agreement on how to conduct meta-analysis. As an explicit strategy for summarizing results, meta-analysis may help clinicians and researchers better understand the findings of clinical studies.
荟萃分析是整合研究结果的过程，这些结果可用于得出关于治疗效果的结论或规划新的研究。我们回顾了这一过程的重要设计和统计学问题。设计问题包括方案制定、目标、文献检索、发表偏倚、研究结果的测量以及数据质量。统计学问题包括研究结果的一致性（同质性）以及合并多项研究结果的技术。基于我们对设计和统计学问题的讨论，提供了评估荟萃分析质量的指南。讨论了这种方法的局限性和进一步发展的领域；研究人员应该就如何进行荟萃分析达成普遍共识。作为一种总结结果的明确策略，荟萃分析可能有助于临床医生和研究人员更好地理解临床研究的结果。
