Introduction to Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

Systematic review is a scientific process for systematically assessing the available evidence from scientific studies, for example, about the prevalence of a condition or the comparative efficacy of one or more interventions or exposures. In order for the statistical analyst to understand the basis for the data in a meta-analysis, this chapter introduces this process by describing the following steps: (1) formulating the question and the research team: (2) designing and executing a search strategy to find all available published and unpublished evidence; (3) screening the evidence for relevant studies; (4) extracting relevant data from these studies; (5) critically appraising each study for potential biases; (6) assessing and analyzing the evidence; (7) formulating a report to document findings; and (8) disseminating the evidence to different stakeholders.