Quality of meta-analyses in major leading gastroenterology and hepatology journals: A systematic review.
OBJECTIVE
To appraise the current reporting methodological quality of meta-analyses in five leading gastroenterology and hepatology journals, and to identify the variables associated with the reporting quality.


METHODS
We systematically searched the literature of meta-analyses in Gastroenterology, Gut, Hepatology, Journal of Hepatology (J HEPATOL) and American Journal of Gastroenterology (AM J GASTROENTEROL) from 2006 to 2008 and from 2012 to 2014. Characteristics were extracted based on the PRISMA statement and the AMSTAR tool. Country, number of patients, funding source were also revealed and descriptively reported.


RESULTS
A total of 127 meta-analyses were enrolled in this study and were compared among journals, study years, and other characters. Compliances with the PRISMA statement and the AMSTAR checklist were 20.8 ± 4.2 out of a maximum of 27 and 7.6 ± 2.4 out of a maximum of 11, respectively. Some domains were poorly reported including describing a protocol and/or registration (item 5, 0.0%), describing methods, and giving results of additional analyses (item 16, 45.7% and item 23, 48.0%) for PRISMA and duplicating study selection and data extraction (item 2, 53.5%), and providing a list of included and excluded studies (item 5, 14.2%) for AMSTAR. Publication in recent years showed a significantly better methodological quality than those published in previous years.


CONCLUSIONS
This study shows that methodological reporting quality of MAs in the major gastroenterology and hepatology journals has improved in recent years after the publication of the developed PRISMA statement, and it can be further improved.
Department of Gastroenterology, and Department of Evidence-Based Medicine, The Affiliated Jiangyin Hospital of Southeast University Medical School, Jiangsu, China.
Pengfei
P
Liu
Department of Gastroenterology, and Department of Evidence-Based Medicine, The Affiliated Jiangyin Hospital of Southeast University Medical School, Jiangsu, China.
Yuanyu
Y
Qiu
Department of Gastroenterology, Ruijin Hospital Affiliated to Shanghai Jiaotong University School of Medicine, Shanghai, China.
Yuting
Y
Qian
Graduate Management Unit, Department of Orthopedics, Changhai Hospital Affiliated to the Second Military Medical University, Shanghai, China.
Xiao
X
Chen
Graduate Management Unit, Department of Orthopedics, Changhai Hospital Affiliated to the Second Military Medical University, Shanghai, China.
Yiran
Y
Wang
Graduate Management Unit, Department of Orthopedics, Changhai Hospital Affiliated to the Second Military Medical University, Shanghai, China.
Jin
J
Cui
Graduate Management Unit, Department of Orthopedics, Changhai Hospital Affiliated to the Second Military Medical University, Shanghai, China.
Xiao
X
Zhai
D001635:Bibliography of Medicine; D000068598:Data Accuracy; D005762:Gastroenterology; D015201:Meta-Analysis as Topic; D010506:Periodicals as Topic; D012107:Research Design
assessing the methodological quality of systematic review; gastroenterology and hepatology; meta-analysis; methodological quality; preferred reporting items for systematic reviews and meta-analyses