Mastering meta-analysis in Microsoft Excel with MetaXL add-in: A comprehensive tutorial and guide to meta-analysis

Area of Science:

• Biostatistics
• Evidence Synthesis
• Medical Informatics

Background:

• Meta-analysis enhances statistical power but faces adoption barriers due to interpretation complexity and software requirements.
• MetaXL, a free Excel add-in, addresses these challenges by offering integrated support for meta-analysis.
• The tool aims to simplify the process and facilitate the publication of meta-analytical results.

Purpose of the Study:

• To provide a practical tutorial on using MetaXL for synthesizing meta-analytical evidence.
• To illustrate the application of MetaXL with a focus on common effect sizes and their presentation.
• To guide researchers in effectively utilizing MetaXL for their studies.

Main Methods:

• Reintroduction of MetaXL functions and explanation of common effect sizes used in meta-analysis.
• Discussion of fundamental concepts: selecting effect sizes for pooling and choosing meta-analytical models.
• Presentation of eight diverse examples covering various effect sizes (rate ratios, mean differences, hazard ratios, prevalence) and data formats, including network meta-analysis implementation.

Main Results:

• MetaXL offers data formatting templates for different data types and effect sizes.
• The tutorial covers practical examples for incidence rate ratios, weighted and standardized mean differences, hazard ratios, and prevalence.
• Implementation of network meta-analysis concepts within MetaXL is demonstrated.

Conclusions:

• This tutorial provides researchers, especially those with limited resources, with insights into pooling effect sizes.
• It introduces new Excel functions within the MetaXL add-in for enhanced meta-analysis.
• Accurate data input and adherence to formatting are crucial for error-free analyses using MetaXL.