We are currently wimessing an "epidemic" of meta-analyses and overviews in the scientific literature.This is a relatively new phenomenon and this article addresses some of the important issues raised by their increasing use.In particular the differing applications and limitations of meta- analysis are discussed, with a review of the analytic methods used and the problems and biases encountered.What is meta-analysis?Meta-analysis has come to refer to the combining ofresults from a number ofexperiments or studies examining the same question.Such a process is not new, and some meta-analytic studies were reported as early as 1955.1However, only since the term meta-analysis was first used in 19762 has the technique become recognised as an analytical method.Meta-analysis is a discipline that reviews critically and combines statistically the results of previous research in an attempt to summarise the totality ofevidence relating to a particular medical issue.The term meta-analysis is now often used synonymously with overview.
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