Interpretação Crítica dos Resultados Estatísticos de uma Meta‐Análise: Estratégias Metodológicas

Abstract

Meta-analysis is a secondary research that involves a\nsystematic and rigorous method capable of replication by\nother researchers and allows combining results from different\nstudies.\nIn health, a classic example is the combination of the\nrelative risk between treatments estimated in different studies.\nThroughout this article we present the logic of the\nprocess, some basic concepts, the definition of fixed effect\nmodel and random effects model, tests of heterogeneity,\nmodel selection techniques and possibilities to presenting the\nresults of a meta-analysis.\nThe appropriate description of methodologies for\nsystematic review wouldn't be subject of scrutiny.\nThus this article aims to describe and analyze the\nprocess of meta-analysis (interpretative and conclusive) in\nstatistics.