Content s

1 Rationale, potentials, and promise of systematic reviews 3
MATTHIAS EGGER, GEORGE DAVEY SMITH, KEITH O’ROURKE
Part I: Systematic reviews of controlled trials
2 Principles of and procedures for systematic reviews 23
MATTHIAS EGGER, GEORGE DAVEY SMITH
3 Problems and limitations in conducting systematic reviews 43
MATTHIAS EGGER, KAY DICKERSIN, GEORGE DAVEY SMITH
4 Identifying randomised trials 69
CAROL LEFEBVRE, MICHAEL J CLARKE
5 Assessing the quality of randomised controlled trials 87
PETER JÜNI, DOUGLAS G ALTMAN, MATTHIAS EGGER
6 Obtaining individual patient data from randomised
controlled trials 109
MICHAEL J CLARKE, LESLEY A STEWART
7 Assessing the quality of reports of systematic reviews:
the QUOROM statement compared to other tools 122
BEVERLEY SHEA, CATHERINE DUBÉ, DAVID MOHER
Part II: Investigating variability within and between studies
8 Going beyond the grand mean: subgroup analysis in
meta-analysis of randomised trials 143
GEORGE DAVEY SMITH, MATTHIAS EGGER
v
9 Why and how sources of heterogeneity should be investigated 157
SIMON G THOMPSON
10 Analysing the relationship between treatment benefit and
underlying risk: precautions and recommendations 176
STEPHEN J SHARP
11 Investigating and dealing with publication and other biases 189
JONATHAN A C STERNE, MATTHIAS EGGER, GEORGE
DAVEY SMITH
Part III: Systematic reviews of observational studies
12 Systematic reviews of observational studies 211
MATTHIAS EGGER, GEORGE DAVEY SMITH,
MARTIN SCHNEIDER
13 Systematic reviews of evaluations of prognostic variables 228
DOUGLAS G ALTMAN
14 Systematic reviews of evaluations of diagnostic and
screening tests 248
JONATHAN J DEEKS
Part IV: Statistical methods and computer software
15 Statistical methods for examining heterogeneity and
combining results from several studies in meta-analysis 285
JONATHAN J DEEKS, DOUGLAS G ALTMAN,
MICHAEL J BRADBURN
16 Effect measures for meta-analysis of trials with
binary outcomes 313
JONATHAN J DEEKS, DOUGLAS G ALTMAN
17 Meta-analysis software 336
JONATHAN A C STERNE, MATTHIAS EGGER,
ALEXANDER J SUTTON
18 Meta-analysis in StataTM 347
JONATHAN A C STERNE, MICHAEL J BRADBURN,
MATTHIAS EGGER
Part V: Using systematic reviews in practice
19 Applying the results of systematic reviews at the bedside 373
FINLAY A MCALISTER
20 Numbers needed to treat derived from meta-analyses:
pitfalls and cautions 386
SHAH EBRAHIM
CONTENTS
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21 Using systematic reviews in clinical guideline development 400
MARTIN ECCLES, NICK FREEMANTLE, JAMES MASON
22 Using systematic reviews for evidence based policy making 410
J A MUIR GRAY
23 Using systematic reviews for economic evaluation 419
MIRANDA MUGFORD
24 Using systematic reviews and registers of ongoing trials for
scientific and ethical trial design, monitoring, and reporting 429
IAIN CHALMERS
Part VI: The Cochrane Collaboration
25 The Cochrane Collaboration in the 20th century 447
GERD ANTES, ANDREW D OXMAN FOR THE COCHRANE
COLLABORATION
26 The Cochrane Collaboration in the 21st century: ten
challenges and one reason why they must be met 459
ANDREW D OXMAN
Index 475
CONTENTS
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