Etiological and prognostic studies always directly reported effect size with its 95% confidence interval, hence, data transformation was needed when performing meta-analysis based on these studies. Using the data of risk ratio, hazard ratio, odds ratio and 95% confidence interval as an example, this paper introduces the process of using RevMan 5.3 software to convert data and perform meta-analysis.
Meta-analysis of survival data is becoming more and more popular. The data could be extracted from the original literature, such as hazard ratio (HR) and its 95% confidence interval, the difference of actual frequency and theoretical frequency (O - E) and its standard deviation. The data can be used to calculate the combined HR using Review Manager (RevMan), Stata and R softwares. RevMan software is easy to learn, but there are some limitations. Stata and R software are powerful and flexible, and they are able to draw a variety of graphics, however, they need to be programmed to achieve.
This article introduces two methods used to calculate effect indicators and their standard errors with non-comparative binary data. Then we give an example, the effect indicators and standard errors are calculated using both methods, and meta-analysis with the outcomes is conducted using RevMan software. At last the calculated results are compared with the results of meta-analysis conducted using Stata software with original data based on cases. The results of meta-analysis performed in RevMan software and Stata software are consistent in calculating non-comparative binary data.