Use cumulative meta-analysis to see how the evidence has shifted over time

A cumulative meta-analysis is actually a series of meta-analyses, where each analysis in the sequence incorporates one additional study.  For example, the first row in the analysis might include a study published in 1990, the next row would include studies published in 1990 and 1991, and so on.  A cumulative meta-analysis may be done retrospectively, to show how the body of evidence has shifted over time, or prospectively, with new studies being added to the body of evidence as they are completed.

While cumulative meta-analysis is most often used to track evidence over time, it can also be used to show how the evidence shifts as a function of other factors.  For example, we could sort the data by study size and run a cumulative analysis.  In this case the program would show the combined effect with only the largest studies included (toward the top) and how this effect shifted as smaller studies were added to the analysis. Similarly, we could start with the higher quality studies and see how the effect shifts as other studies are added.

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