title: An overview of statistical issues and methods of meta-analysis.
abstract: A meta-analysis is a statistical analysis of the data from some collection of studies in order to synthesize the results. In this paper we discuss issues that frequently arise in meta-analysis and give an overview of the methods used, with particular attention to the use of fixed- and random-effects approaches. The methods are then applied to two sample datasets.
authors.affiliation: Department of Biostatistics, School of Public Health, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill 27599-7400.
authors.forename: J E
authors.initials: JE
authors.lastname: Schmid
authors.forename: G G
authors.initials: GG
authors.lastname: Koch
authors.forename: L M
authors.initials: LM
authors.lastname: LaVange
mesh_terms: D001702:Biopharmaceutics / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D015201:Meta-Analysis as Topic