SAQ 280 – Research – appraisal of a meta-analysis and forest plot

Review Completed

Marked out of 12.00

You are appraising a meta-analysis of randomised controlled trials. The visual display used in the review is shown below.

List three (3) essential aspects to assess when appraising the meta-analysis and explain the reason for each.

(Marked out of 6.0)

/ 6

Name the visual display shown.

(Marked out of 1.0)

/ 1

State what the horizontal and vertical axes represent.

(Marked out of 2.0)

/ 2

Identify the study with the largest sample size.

(Marked out of 1.0)

/ 1

Identify the studies that did not achieve statistical significance and explain why.

(Marked out of 2.0)

/ 2

Total Score: 0 / 12

Percentage: 0%

Aspect	Reason
Pooled result	Shows the combined effect and whether it reaches significance.
Heterogeneity	Assesses whether sufficiently similar studies and populations were combined.
Publication bias	Assesses distortion from missing or unpublished negative studies.
Quality of included studies	Poor-quality studies may bias the pooled result.
Patient cohort/applicability	Determines relevance to the local clinical population.