With the increase in the number of acupuncture clinical trials, systematic reviews are used to summarize key results across many disciplines. Meta-analysis is a popular method for synthesizing evidence as it provides ...With the increase in the number of acupuncture clinical trials, systematic reviews are used to summarize key results across many disciplines. Meta-analysis is a popular method for synthesizing evidence as it provides a succinct way of summarizing evidence quantitatively. Due to clinical heterogeneity, however, it is not always possible to use meta-analysis. Instead, a qualitative method is used. The purpose of this paper is to summary the findings of current research on the Global Impression Method (GIM); a method used to synthesize the results of clinically heterogeneous randomized controlled trial (RCT) in systematic reviews. The results indicate that there is moderate to substantial intra-rater and inter-rater agreement when judging the results of the forest plots using a global impression and simplified version of the best evidence synthesis (BES) method when compared to the results of meta-analyses. Thus, the GIM can be used for researchers to synthesize results of RCT. The quality of the individual study can be taken into consideration after this process to determine a more precise strength of the evidence, therefore, GIM worthy to be used in acupuncture or other studies.展开更多
文摘With the increase in the number of acupuncture clinical trials, systematic reviews are used to summarize key results across many disciplines. Meta-analysis is a popular method for synthesizing evidence as it provides a succinct way of summarizing evidence quantitatively. Due to clinical heterogeneity, however, it is not always possible to use meta-analysis. Instead, a qualitative method is used. The purpose of this paper is to summary the findings of current research on the Global Impression Method (GIM); a method used to synthesize the results of clinically heterogeneous randomized controlled trial (RCT) in systematic reviews. The results indicate that there is moderate to substantial intra-rater and inter-rater agreement when judging the results of the forest plots using a global impression and simplified version of the best evidence synthesis (BES) method when compared to the results of meta-analyses. Thus, the GIM can be used for researchers to synthesize results of RCT. The quality of the individual study can be taken into consideration after this process to determine a more precise strength of the evidence, therefore, GIM worthy to be used in acupuncture or other studies.