Graphical displays play a pivotal role in understanding data sets and disseminating results. For meta-analysis, they are instrumental in presenting findings from multiple studies. This report presents guidance to authors wishing to submit graphical displays as part of their meta-analysis to a clinical cardiology journal, such as HeartWhen using graphical displays for meta-analysis, we recommend the following:black triangle right Use a flow diagram to describe the number of studies returned from the initial search, the inclusion/exclusion criteria applied and the final number of studies used in the meta-analysis.black triangle right Present results from the meta-analysis using a figure that incorporates a forest plot and underlying (tabulated) statistics, including test for heterogeneity.black triangle right Use displays such as funnel plot (minimum 10 studies) and Galbraith plot to visually present distribution of effect sizes or associations in order to evaluate small-study effects and publication bias).black triangle right For meta-regression, the bubble plot is a useful display for assessing associations by study-level factors.black triangle right Final checks on graphs, such as appropriate use of axis scale, line pattern, text size and graph resolution, should always be performed.
AD - The George Institute for Global Health, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK. AN - 27810865 BT - Heart CN - [IF]: 5.595 DP - NLM ET - 2016/11/05 J2 - Heart (British Cardiac Society) LA - Eng LB - UKGraphical displays play a pivotal role in understanding data sets and disseminating results. For meta-analysis, they are instrumental in presenting findings from multiple studies. This report presents guidance to authors wishing to submit graphical displays as part of their meta-analysis to a clinical cardiology journal, such as HeartWhen using graphical displays for meta-analysis, we recommend the following:black triangle right Use a flow diagram to describe the number of studies returned from the initial search, the inclusion/exclusion criteria applied and the final number of studies used in the meta-analysis.black triangle right Present results from the meta-analysis using a figure that incorporates a forest plot and underlying (tabulated) statistics, including test for heterogeneity.black triangle right Use displays such as funnel plot (minimum 10 studies) and Galbraith plot to visually present distribution of effect sizes or associations in order to evaluate small-study effects and publication bias).black triangle right For meta-regression, the bubble plot is a useful display for assessing associations by study-level factors.black triangle right Final checks on graphs, such as appropriate use of axis scale, line pattern, text size and graph resolution, should always be performed.
PY - 2016 SN - 1468-201X (Electronic)