Limitations of meta-analyses of studies with high heterogeneity
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Sabitova et al 1 have performed an important service in compiling and summarizing 2 decades of studies on job burnout and satisfaction among physicians and dentists in middle-income countries and a few low-income countries.The authors followed a standard approach to performing a systematic review and meta-analysis to analyze studies that assessed job-related morale among physicians and dentists working in these countries, using levels of job burnout, job satisfaction, and job motivation as indicators of job morale.Data were extracted independently by several investigators following the Meta-analysis of Observational Studies in Epidemiology (MOOSE) reporting guidelines.The authors assessed the quality of the included studies for bias and conducted random-effects meta-analyses, planned subgroup analyses, and metaregression analyses.The study
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These estimates demonstrate limited interpretability and should be approached with caution due to substantial observed variability.
“these estimates demonstrate limited interpretability and should be approached with caution, due to the substantial level of observed variability (Imrey, 2020).”
From Estimation of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) half-lives in human studies: a systematic review and meta-analysis (2024) · cites this paper as Imrey, 2020
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A Guide to Understanding Meta-analysis
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High statistical heterogeneity is more frequent in meta-analysis of continuous than binary outcomes
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- Authors
- Imrey, P. B.
- Affiliations
- Cleveland Clinic (US)
- Corresponding author
- Imrey, Peter B.
- ORCID
- Imrey, Peter B.
- Venue
- JAMA Network Open
- Publisher
- American Medical Association (AMA)
- Published
- 2020-01-10
- Volume
- 3
- Issue
- 1
- Pages
- e1919325
- ISSN
- 2574-3805 (ISSN-L)
- OpenAlex
- W2999598292
- Cited by
- 319
- References
- 10
- Citations by year
- 2026: 51 · 2025: 81 · 2024: 67 · 2023: 53 · 2022: 41 · 2021: 16 · 2020: 10
- FWCI
- 31.31
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- gold
- doi.org
- Licence
- cc-by
- Locations
- JAMA Network Open (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Funders
- National Institutes of Health (UL1TR000439)
- Topics
- Health Sciences › Health Professions › General Health Professions › Healthcare professionals’ stress and burnout
- Social Sciences › Decision Sciences › Statistics, Probability and Uncertainty › Meta-analysis and systematic reviews
- Health Sciences › Health Professions › Occupational Therapy › Occupational Health and Burnout
- Keywords
- burnout, job satisfaction, employee motivation, physicians, dentists, middle-income countries, low-income countries, meta-analysis limitations, heterogeneity, subgroup analysis, meta-regression
- MeSH terms
- Dentists, Developing Countries, Humans, Income, Morale, Poverty
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