Some Aspects of Meta-analysis Applied in Medical Research

Meta-analysis is a statistical method to combine the results of multiple scientific experiments conducted in different environments or seasons or places in order to derive a common conclusion about the suitability of the experimental materials throughout the environmental conditions. The conclusion can be drawn by estimating the parameter from the estimates of the parameter obtained from different experiments. The hypothesis regarding the parameter can be verified on the basis of the result of the individual experiment. The common conclusion can be made by combining the test results observed in different experiments. The analysis has the capacity to contrast the results derived from different experiments and to identify the patterns among experimental results in addition to have an estimate of the population parameter [1]. The technique is an important component of a systematic study of the same phenomenon investigated in different agro-climatic / environmental / socioeconomic / hygienic / political conditions.