Table 1.

Characteristics of the meta-analyses that produced early false positives in conventional meta-analyses

Systematic review	Title	Comparison	Outcome	Number of trials	Number of participants	Number of false positives
Eligible based on RRR≥10%
Ducharme et al30	Addition of long-acting β2-agonists to inhaled steroids vs higher dose inhaled steroids in adults and children with persistent asthma	Long-acting β agonists and inhaled corticosteroids (ICS) vs higher dose ICS	Adverse events	30	11 864	2
Duley et al33	Antiplatelet agents for preventing preeclampsia and its complications	Antiplatelet agents vs placebo	Caesarean section	24	31 698	1
Perez et al29	Effect of early treatment with antihypertensive drugs on short and long-term mortality in patients with an acute cardiovascular event	β-blockers vs control	All-cause mortality at 10 days	19	72 557	6
Spencer et al34	Inhaled corticosteroids vs long-acting β2-agonists for COPD	Inhaled steroids vs long-acting β agonists	Adverse events	5	5089	1
Zhang et al35	Calcium antagonists for acute ischaemic stroke	Calcium antagonists vs control	Primary outcomes	22	6684	1
Eligible based on NNT≤100 participants
Moberley et al32	Vaccines for preventing pneumococcal infection in adults	Vaccination vs placebo	Mortality (all causes, all studies)	14	47 560	1
Neilson36	Fetal ECG for fetal monitoring during labour	Fetal ECG (ST analysis) plus CTG vs CTG alone	Cord pH<7.05 plus base deficit >12 mmol/L	5	14 574	2

COPD, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease; CTG, cardiotocography; NNT, number-needed-to treat; RRR, relative risk reduction.