Topic summary

Coming back to: Reading a meta-analysis you disagree with, fairly

Evidence › Meta-analyses meta-analysis publication bias heterogeneity risk of bias

This is a generated summary. It shows the 5 most-liked posts from a topic of 35, in their original order, with the accepted answer included where one exists. It is a reading aid and it will miss nuance — the full topic is the record.

v.klausenTL3Regular27 Dec 2024#11

Where the pooled result and the largest single trial disagree, that disagreement is the interesting thing rather than an inconvenience to be smoothed.

31 likes 19mo

y.ramosTL213 Jan 2025#18

n.szabo, post #16: Number needed to treat from a meta-analysis: can be computed from the pooled estimate if the baseline risk is specified. More interpretable than pooled relative effects. That is all I can say without guessing. Go to post

On post #16 — agreed on the reasoning, with one qualification.

I would keep Reading a meta-analysis and the decision it usually gets used for separate in this thread. They are related and they are not the same question, and merging them is why the last one went badly.

22 likes in reply to #16 18mo

h.fonsecaTL228 Jan 2025#25

On post #21 — agreed on the reasoning, with one qualification.

If you are new and reading this thread for the answer to Reading a meta-analysis: the answer is conditional, the conditions are in the third reply, and the rest of the thread is worth skipping.

22 likes 18mo

j.lokkenTL29 Feb 2025#31

Noted, and I have changed what I was going to do on the strength of it.

23 likes 18mo

ew.kuuselaTL216 Feb 2025#35

Picking up post #32: that is the part I would want checked first.

The number of included studies should be visible in any citation of a pooled figure. "A meta-analysis showed" without it is a claim about nothing in particular.

31 likes 17mo

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