A. Blair et al., GUIDELINES FOR APPLICATION OF METAANALYSIS IN ENVIRONMENTAL EPIDEMIOLOGY, Regulatory toxicology and pharmacology, 22(2), 1995, pp. 189-197
The use of meta-analysis in environmental epidemiology can enhance the
value of epidemiologic data in debates about environmental health ris
ks. Meta-analysis may be particularly useful to formally examine sourc
es of heterogeneity, to clarify the relationship between environmental
exposures and health effects, and to generate information beyond that
provided by individual studies or a narrative review. However, meta-a
nalysis may not be useful when the relationship between exposure and d
isease is obvious, when there are only a few studies of the key health
outcomes, or when there is substantial confounding or other biases wh
ich cannot be adjusted for in the analysis. Recent increases in the us
e of meta-analysis in environmental epidemiology have highlighted the
need for guidelines for the application of the technique, Guidelines,
in the form of desirable and undesirable attributes, are presented in
this paper for various components of a metaanalysis including study id
entification and selection; data extraction and analysis; and interpre
tation, presentation, and communication of results, Also discussed are
the appropriateness of the use of meta-analysis in environmental heal
th studies and when metaanalysis should or should not be used. (C) 199
5 Academic Press, Inc