Anesthesia & Clinical Research
Open Access

Abstract

Analysis of the Methodologic Quality of Reporting of Meta-Analyses in Anesthesiology and Pain Medicine

Marie N. Hanna, Maggie A. Jeffries, Shruti G. Kapoor, Jamie D. Murphy, Robert D. Stevens, Alexis Bilbow, Vineesh Mathur and Christopher L. Wu

Study Objective: In 1999, the Quality of Reporting Meta-analyses (QUOROM) conference was convened to set standards for meta-analysis reporting. Although the number of meta-analyses has increased over the past decade, the overall scientific quality of meta-analysis reporting in the anesthesiology and pain-medicine literature is unclear. We undertook a literature review of published meta-analyses in the fields of anesthesiology and pain medicine to describe the quality of reporting. Methods: Meta-analyses relevant to the fields of anesthesiology and pain medicine were identified by a literature search of the Medline, EMBASE, CINAHL, and Cochrane databases. Search terms included combinations of anesth* or anaesth*, preoperative, postoperative, analgesia, pain, and meta-analysis or meta-analyses. Critical care medicine articles were excluded. Publication-related data were extracted from each accepted meta-analysis. The quality of reporting for each meta-analysis was scored by using the Overview Quality Assessment Questionnaire (OQAQ) and the QUOROM checklist. Results: A total of 374 meta-analyses were included and reviewed. The mean (± SD) overall OQAQ score for all publications was 23.9 ± 2.5 out of a maximum possible score of 27. The mean QUOROM score for all publications was 14.3 ± 2.6 out of a maximum possible score of 18. The quality of reporting of meta-analyses correlated with the region of origin and type of journal (non-anesthesiology > anesthesiology) but not with anesthesia subspecialty. Scores obtained by both OQAQ and QUOROM were higher for meta-analyses published after the QUOROM guidelines were released than for those published earlier. Conclusions: The quality of reporting of meta-analyses in the fields of anesthesiology and pain medicine has improved since publication of the QUOROM guidelines.