I found a couple of interesting articles on meta-analysis that are difficult to classify:
- Interpreting epidemiological evidence: how meta-analysis and causal inference methods are related. Weed DL. Int J Epidemiol 2000: 29(3); 387-90. [Medline] [Abstract] [Full text] [PDF]
- Systematic reviews: a cross-sectional study of location and citation counts. Montori VM, Wilczynski NL, Morgan D, Haynes RB. BMC Med 2003: 1(1); 2. [Medline] [Abstract] [Full text] [PDF]
The first relates how meta-analysis supports some, but not all of Hill’s criteria for causation. The second compared systematic reviews with narrative reviews. Systematic reviews were cited more often (26 times on average versus 8) and included twice as many citations.
[Update August 23, 2005] Here are some articles that I had used as teaching examples. I have switched to using open source journals because it is easier to incorporate large sections of text into my web pages and book with open source publications. These are still interesting examples, however, and they have full free text on the web.
- Collaborative Meta-Analysis of Randomised Trials of Antiplatelet Therapy for Prevention of Death, Myocardial Infarction, and Stroke in High Risk Patients. Antithrombotic Trialists' Collaboration. BMJ 2002: 324(7329); 71-86. [PDF]
- Efficacy, Tolerability, and Upper Gastrointestinal Safety of Celecoxib for Treatment of Osteoarthritis and Rheumatoid Arthritis: Systematic Review of Randomised Controlled Trials. Jonathan J Deeks, Lesley A Smith, Matthew D Bradley. BMJ 2002: 325(7365);
- Effect of Iron Supplementation on Incidence of Infectious Illness in Children: Systematic Review. Tarun Gera, H P S Sachdev. BMJ 2002: 325(7373); 1142. [PDF]
- House Dust Mite Control Measures in the Management of Asthma: Meta-Analysis. Peter C Gotzsche, Cecilia Hammarquist, Michael Burr. BMJ 1998: 317(7166); 1105-1110. [PDF]
- Systematic Review of Long Term Effects of Advice to Reduce Dietary Salt in Adults. Lee Hooper, Christopher Bartlett, George Davey Smith, Shah Ebrahim. BMJ 2002: 325(7365); 628. [PDF]
- Systematic Review of the Effectiveness of Stage Based Interventions to Promote Smoking Cessation. Robert Paul Riemsma, Jill Pattenden, Christopher Bridle, Amanda J Sowden, Lisa Mather, Ian S Watt, Anne Walker. BMJ 2003: 326(7400); 1175-1177. [PDF]
You can find an earlier version of this page on my original website.