| Ref ID | 716 |
| First Author | J.P. Souza |
| Journal | REPRODUCTIVE HEALTH |
| Year Of Publishing | 2007 |
| URL | https://link.springer.com/article/10.1186/1742-4755-4-3 |
| Keywords |
• Cochrane • Reproductive health • Publication bias |
| Problem(s) |
• Poor consideration of publication bias |
| Article Type | Empirical |
| Article Subtype | Meta-epidemiological analysis |
| First Author Country | Brazil |
| Aim | To assess the occurrence of publication bias in systematic reviews with meta-analyses published in the WHO reproductive health library. Additionally to perform publication bias assessment using the "trim and "fill method" where these had not been undertaken. |
| Level of Investigation | Analytical |
| Summary of Findings | None of the reviews had reported any evaluation of publication bias or funnel plot asymmetry. |
| Number of systematic reviews included | 21 |
| Number of eligible systematic reviews assessed | 21 |
| Treatment impacted | Yes |
| Treatment impacted description | When such evaluations were performed on the reviews identified, some degree of asymmetry in funnel plots was observed in 18 of the 21 meta-analyses evaluated (85.7%). |
| Interpretation impacted | Yes |
| Interpretation impacted description | In 18 of the 21 meta-analyses evaluated, the adjustments for publication bias had no effect on the conclusions; however, in the remaining three (14.3%), the conclusion could not be considered robust due to a possible publication bias. |