BMJ  2005;331:110-111 (9 July), doi:10.1136/bmj.331.7508.110-c

Letter

Surveying the literature from animal experiments

Avoidance of bias is objective of systematic reviews, not meta-analysis

The first 150 words of the full text of this article appear below.

EDITOR—We assessed the methodological quality of reviews of animal studies identified using a carefully designed search term combination in Medline and Embase (1996-2004). We also examined bibliographies of known reviews and contacted experts. In total, 30 reviews summarised studies in live animals, which measured laboratory variables or examined treatment effects, identified from search of a publicly available resource. These reviews often lacked methodological features (figure), which increased the risk of biased inferences. We therefore concur with Lemon and Dunnett, that better methods of surveying the literature on animal experiments are needed.1


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  		Methodological features of reviews of animal research (1996-2004). Data presented as 100% bars with numbers of studies

 

However, we do not understand their objection to the use of systematic reviews. Their argument seems to be that it is difficult to combine data from different studies in animal research. Perhaps it needs to be emphasised that . . . [Full text of this article]

Khalid S Khan, professor of obstetrics-gynaecology and clinical epidemiology

University of Birmingham, Birmingham k.s.khan@bham.ac.uk

Luciano Mignini, research fellow

Centro Rosarino de Estudios Perinatales, Rosario, Argentina


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Relevant Article

Surveying the literature from animal experiments
Roger Lemon and Stephen B Dunnett
BMJ 2005 330: 977-978. [Extract] [Full Text] [PDF]

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