EasyMA: a program for the meta-analysis of clinical trials

Abstract

Meta-analysis of clinical trial data is an increasingly important method in clinical research, particularly in the field of therapeutic evaluation. This method uses some specific statistical techniques which are not all available on standard packages and therefore require specific developments. This paper describes a program designed to help medical researchers perform meta-analyses of clinical trial data with dichotomous outcomes. This program includes the various statistical methods of meta-analysis and enables cumulative meta-analysis and sub-groups to be performed. A robustness index can be determined and the results obtained in table and graphic formats. Data-editing and data-manipulating facilities are also possible. Much care has been taken to make the user interface as user-friendly as possible, so that the program is within the reach of all medical researchers.