Editorial
Copyright ©The Author(s) 2023. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
World J Meta-Anal. Dec 18, 2023; 11(7): 313-316
Published online Dec 18, 2023. doi: 10.13105/wjma.v11.i7.313
Importance of well-designed meta-analyses in assessing medical and surgical treatments
Sunny Chi Lik Au
Sunny Chi Lik Au, Department of Ophthalmology, Tung Wah Eastern Hospital, Hong Kong, China
Author contributions: Au SCL designed the research study; performed the research; analyzed the data and wrote the manuscript; All authors have read and approve the final manuscript.
Conflict-of-interest statement: All authors have disclosed no conflicts of interest.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article that was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: https://creativecommons.org/Licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Corresponding author: Sunny Chi Lik Au, MBChB, Chief Doctor, Surgeon, Department of Ophthalmology, Tung Wah Eastern Hospital, 9/F, MO Office, Lo Ka Chow Memorial Ophthalmic Centre, 19 Eastern Hospital Road, Causeway Bay, Hong Kong, China. kilihcua@gmail.com
Received: September 28, 2023
Peer-review started: September 28, 2023
First decision: November 2, 2023
Revised: November 10, 2023
Accepted: November 29, 2023
Article in press: November 29, 2023
Published online: December 18, 2023
Processing time: 76 Days and 19.1 Hours
Core Tip

Core Tip: It is crucial to differentiate between well-designed and poorly designed meta-analyses. Not all meta-analyses are conducted equally, and identifying their quality is vital to avoid misleading conclusions that can potentially harm patients. Meta-analyses concerning medical or surgical treatment outcomes should ideally include only randomized, controlled trials or high-quality prospective studies as source material. While reputable journals adhere to this research ethics, caution must be exercised when exploring studies that pool data without maintaining strict criteria.