Systematic review and meta-analysis
A systematic review evaluates existing studies by set rules; a meta-analysis combines their figures statistically. In the article on prevalence, such a review shows how differently individual studies turn out.
- Also called
- review, meta-analysis, review article
A systematic review evaluates studies by set rules. One example is a large systematic review on the prevalence of autism that evaluated studies from 34 countries: as a median across the studies, the value was about 1 in 100 children. The individual studies, however, come to very different results. [1]
A meta-analysis combines the results of several studies statistically. How informative a review or a meta-analysis is depends on the quality of the studies included. More on this in the article “How good is a study?”.
Sources and literature
- Zeidan J, Fombonne E, Scorah J, Ibrahim A, Durkin MS, Saxena S, Yusuf A, Shih A, Elsabbagh M: Global prevalence of autism: A systematic review update. Autism Research 2022;15(5):778–790. https://doi.org/10.1002/aur.2696 (PMC9310578)
In detail: How common is autism?
Articles on this term
Knowledge articleScience & research
How common is autism?
Related terms
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