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Objective: To identify the extent to which meta-analyses currently include unpublished data and whether editors, meta-analysts, and methodologists believe unpublished material should be included.Design: This article describes two related studies: a literature review and a cross-sectional survey. SAMPLE SELECTION: For the literature review, we identified all articles indexed by the key word meta-analysis from January 1989 to February 1991 and determined whether unpublished material had been searched for, obtained, and included in the meta-analyses. For the cross-sectional survey, we surveyed authors of these meta-analyses, authors of articles addressing methodological issues in meta-analysis published during the same period, and editors of journals in which both types of articles were published.Intervention: We asked the respondents about their attitudes concerning inclusion of unpublished data and publication of articles from which data had previously been included in a scientific overview.Main Outcome Measures: Inclusion of unpublished data and opinions about whether unpublished material should be included in overviews and whether prior inclusion of data in an overview should bear on publication.Results: Of 150 meta-analyses, 46 (30.7%) included unpublished data in their primary analysis. Of authors surveyed, 85% responded. Of the meta-analysts and methodologists, 77.7% felt that unpublished material should definitely or probably be included in scientific overviews; this was true of 46.9% of the editors. A total of 86.4% of the meta-analysts and methodologists and 53.2% of the editors felt that inclusion of data in a prior overview should have no bearing on full publication of original research.Conclusion: While inclusion of unpublished data in scientific overviews remains controversial, most investigators directly involved in meta-analysis believe that unpublished data should not be systematically excluded. The most valid synthesis of available information will result when meta-analysts subject published and unpublished material to the same rigorous methodological evaluation and present results with and without unpublished sources of data. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To determine the efficacy of CGS 5649B, the authors conducted a series of randomized, double-masked, single-subject studies using pairs of treatment periods, each pair including four weeks of active drug administration and four weeks of placebo administration. Thirty-two moderately demented patients completed three treatment pairs, receiving doses of 90, 200, or 600 mg of CGS 5649B during the active periods. Two patients met criteria for individual response in the behavioral measures. In the group analysis none of the differences achieved statistical significance. The authors conclude that CGS 5649B had a favorable impact on behavior for two of 32 patients. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background and Methods: To determine the diagnostic values of laboratory tests used in the diagnosis of iron-deficiency anemia, the authors conducted a systematic overview of the relevant literature. Computerized searches of the MEDLINE database yielded 1,179 potentially relevant citations. Fifty-five studies included the results of laboratory tests and histologic examination of the bone marrow for at least 50% of an identifiable patient group. In these 55 studies, quality was assessed and descriptive information concerning the study populations, the tests conducted, and the results was extracted, all in duplicate.Results: Serum ferritin radioimmunoassay was by far the most powerful test, with an area under the receiver operating characteristic curve of 0.95. Test properties differed for populations of patients with inflammatory, liver, or neoplastic disease and patients without these conditions. Likelihood ratio lines, which allow precise interpretation of results across the entire range of ferritin concentration values, were constructed for the individual populations.Conclusion: Serum ferritin radioimmunoassay is an extremely powerful test for the diagnosis of iron-deficiency anemia and, appropriately interpreted, can be applied to the complete range of patients. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]