| Ref ID | 637 |
| First Author | T. A. Furukawa |
| Journal | JAMA |
| Year Of Publishing | 2007 |
| URL | https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/17284696/ |
| Keywords |
• Cochrane • General medical |
| Problem(s) |
• Multiplicity of outcomes and lack of pre-specification for outcome reporting |
| Article Type | Editorial |
| Article Subtype | Comment/letter |
| First Author Country | Japan |
| Aim | Research letter examining (1) to what extent Cochrane meta-analyses include only a proportion of identified RCTs when estimating treatment effects on patient- important outcomes and (2) whether the proportion of RCTs included in a meta-analysis is associated with its pooled effect size. |
| Level of Investigation | Descriptive |
| Summary of Findings | Approximately half of the RCTs identified by Cochrane reviews did not contribute to the pooled effect size estimates for patient-important outcomes in their meta-analyses. There appeared to be an inverse association between percentage of RCTs contributing and effect size. |
| Number of systematic reviews included | 500 |
| Number of eligible systematic reviews assessed | 2524 |
| Treatment impacted | Yes |
| Treatment impacted description | |
| Interpretation impacted | No |
| Interpretation impacted description |