title: Practical and updated guidelines on performing meta-analyses of non-randomized studies in interventional cardiology.
abstract: The use of meta-analysis in medicine is widespread nowadays, particularly in the field of interventional cardiology. Meta-analysis is a statistical approach aiming to combine date from a large number of patients from randomized clinical studies and/or non-randomized registries so as to obtain a pooled estimate of the results and to answer specific research questions. It is important to take the correct methodological approach in order to reach unbiased conclusions. In this article, we provide an updated review of the methodological approaches needed to perform meta-analyses of non-randomized data, and we suggest a simplified check-list of items to be considered when attempting to deploy this kind of meta-analysis.
authors.affiliation: Department of Cardiology and Internal Medicine, Ludwik Rydygier Collegium Medicum, Nicolaus Copernicus University, Bydgoszcz, Poland. eliano.navarese@alice.it
authors.forename: Eliano Pio
authors.initials: EP
authors.lastname: Navarese
authors.forename: Marek
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Koziński
authors.forename: Teodosio
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Pafundi
authors.forename: Felicita
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Andreotti
authors.forename: Antonino
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Buffon
authors.forename: Stefano De
authors.initials: SD
authors.lastname: Servi
authors.forename: Jacek
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Kubica
mesh_terms: D015982:Bias; D002309:Cardiology / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D057189:Checklist; D002986:Clinical Trials as Topic / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D015986:Confounding Factors, Epidemiologic; D003627:Data Interpretation, Statistical; D019317:Evidence-Based Medicine / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D017408:Guidelines as Topic; D006801:Humans; D015201:Meta-Analysis as Topic