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Review
. 2006 Sep 16;333(7568):597-600.
doi: 10.1136/bmj.333.7568.597.

The case of the misleading funnel plot

Joseph Lau  1 , John P A Ioannidis, Norma Terrin, Christopher H Schmid, Ingram Olkin
Affiliations
Review

The case of the misleading funnel plot

Joseph Lau et al. BMJ. .

Abstract

Evidence based medicine insists on rigorous standards to appraise clinical interventions. Failure to apply the same rules to its own tools could be equally damaging

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Figures

Fig 1
Fig 1
Effect of measure of precision (plotted on y axis) on appearance of funnel plots. Redrawn from Tang and Liu
Fig 2
Fig 2
Effect of grouping of data on impression of funnel plot for meta-analysis of inhaled disodium cromoglicate that found significant heterogeneity
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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