meta-analysis

Syllable breakdown

Dictionary meaning

a statistical technique that combines the quantitative results of multiple independent studies addressing the same research question to produce a single, more precise estimate of effect than any individual study could provide; by pooling data from multiple trials, meta-analysis increases statistical power, allows examination of heterogeneity between studies, and enables subgroup analyses to explore whether effects differ across patient populations or settings; results are typically presented in a forest plot showing individual study estimates alongside a pooled estimate; limitations include publication bias (the tendency for positive studies to be published and negative ones to remain unpublished), clinical heterogeneity between pooled studies, and the garbage-in-garbage-out problem that combining poor-quality studies does not produce reliable results