Introduction to systematic review and meta-analysis

• Main Authors: EunJin Ahn, Hyun Kang
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Korean Society of Anesthesiologists 2018-04-01
• Series: Korean Journal of Anesthesiology
• Subjects: anesthesiology; meta-analysis; randomized controlled trial; systematic review
• Online Access: http://ekja.org/upload/pdf/kjae-2018-71-2-103.pdf

Systematic reviews and meta-analyses present results by combining and analyzing data from different studies conducted on similar research topics. In recent years, systematic reviews and meta-analyses have been actively performed in various fields including anesthesiology. These research methods are powerful tools that can overcome the difficulties in performing large-scale randomized controlled trials. However, the inclusion of studies with any biases or improperly assessed quality of evidence in systematic reviews and meta-analyses could yield misleading results. Therefore, various guidelines have been suggested for conducting systematic reviews and meta-analyses to help standardize them and improve their quality. Nonetheless, accepting the conclusions of many studies without understanding the meta-analysis can be dangerous. Therefore, this article provides an easy introduction to clinicians on performing and understanding meta-analyses.