Meta-analysis of observational studies in epidemiology checklist for meta-analyses of observational studies

Item number	Recommendation	Reported on page number
Reporting of background should include
1	Problem definition	5
2	Hypothesis statement	-
3	Description of study outcome (s)	7
4	Type of exposure or intervention used	6
5	Type of study designs used	6
6	Study population	6
	Reporting of search strategy should include
7	Qualifications of searchers (e.g., librarians and investigators)	1
8	Search strategy, including time period included in the synthesis and key words	6, Appendix 1
9	Effort to include all available studies, including contact with authors	7
10	Databases and registries searched	6, Appendix 1
11	Search software used, name and version, including special features used (e.g., explosion)	Appendix 1
12	Use of hand searching (e.g., reference lists of obtained articles)	6
13	List of citations located and those excluded, including justification	9, Supplementary Figure 1 (725.9KB, tif)
14	Method of addressing articles published in languages other than English	6
15	Method of handling abstracts and unpublished studies	6
16	Description of any contact with authors	7
Reporting of methods should include
17	Description of relevance or appropriateness of studies assembled for assessing the hypothesis to be tested	6-8
18	Rationale for the selection and coding of data (e.g., sound clinical principles or convenience)	6-8
19	Documentation of how data were classified and coded (e.g., multiple raters, blinding, and interrater reliability)	6-8
20	Assessment of confounding (e.g., comparability of cases and controls in studies where appropriate)	9
21	Assessment of study quality, including blinding of quality assessors, stratification or regression on possible predictors of study results	8-10
22	Assessment of heterogeneity	7-8, 12
23	Description of statistical methods (e.g., complete description of fixed or random-effect models, justification of whether the chosen models account for predictors of study results, dose-response models, or cumulative meta-analysis) in sufficient detail to be replicated	8
24	Provision of appropriate tables and graphics	Tables 1-2, Figures 1-4
Reporting of results should include
25	Graphic summarizing individual study estimates and overall estimate	Figures 1-3
26	Table giving descriptive information for each study included	Tables 1 and 2
27	Results of sensitivity testing (e.g., subgroup analysis)	11
28	Indication of statistical uncertainty of findings	12-16