title: The growth of health-related meta-analyses published from 1980 to 2000.
abstract: A MEDLINE search was conducted to estimate trends in the growth of health-related meta-analyses published during the past two decades. Employing a more specific than sensitive search strategy, and not supplementing these results with known sources of published meta-analyses or manual search strategies, 3,025 probable meta-analyses were selected from the 5,128 citations identified. The data showed a definitive upward (and generally linear) trend across time with no evidence for this genre of research either leveling off or decreasing.
authors.affiliation: University of Maryland School of Medicine, USA.
authors.forename: W L
authors.initials: WL
authors.lastname: Lee
authors.forename: R B
authors.initials: RB
authors.lastname: Bausell
authors.forename: B M
authors.initials: BM
authors.lastname: Berman
mesh_terms: D015706:Bibliometrics; D006801:Humans; D016247:Information Storage and Retrieval; D015201:Meta-Analysis as Topic