So, Who Would Seriously Like To Turn Into A Thorough EAI045 Whiz?

Study-specific estimates combined using inverse variance-weighted averages of logarithmic SMDs in the fixed- and random-effects GUCY1B3 model. Between-study heterogeneity was analyzed by means of standard ��2 tests. Where nonsignificant statistical heterogeneity was identified, the fixed-effect estimate was used preferentially as the summary measure. Sensitivity analyses were performed to assess the contribution of each study to the pooled estimate by excluding individual studies one at a time and recalculating the pooled SMD estimates for the remaining studies. To assess the impact of baseline AAA diameter or female percentage among the studies on the study-specific estimate, we performed a restricted maximum likelihood meta-regression analysis. Meta-regression graphs depict the effect of statin therapy on the outcome (plotted as a SMD of growth rates on the y-axis) as a function of a given factor (plotted as a mean of the baseline diameter or a female percentage on the x-axis). Meta-regression coefficients A1331852 (slopes of meta-regression lines) show the estimated increase in SMD per unit increase in the covariate. A negative coefficient would indicate that as a given factor increases the SMD decreases, i.e. statin therapy is more beneficial in reducing the outcome of interest. Publication bias was assessed graphically using a funnel plot and mathematically using an adjusted rank-correlation test. All analyses were conducted using the metareg in Stata SE release 11.2 (StataCorp LP, College Station, TX) and Comprehensive Meta-Analysis version 2 (Biostat, Englewood, NJ). Initial electronic search identified 113 potentially relevant publications, all of which selleck compound were reviewed in detail. As a consequence, we selected 4 unadjusted and 7 adjusted observational comparative studies of statin therapy enrolling patients with a small AAA.13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22?and?23 No randomized controlled trial was identified. In total, our meta-analysis included data on 4647 patients assigned to statin therapy or no statin. The trial design, female percentage, follow-up duration, baseline diameter, growth rate, and their MDs are summarized in Table?1. Pooled analysis of all the 11 studies demonstrated a statistically significant reduction in AAA growth rates with statin therapy relative to no statin in the random-effects model (SMD,??0.420; 95% CI,??0.651 to??0.189; P?