Objective To investigate the incidence of perioperative stroke in elderly patients (≥65 years) undergoing offpump coronary artery bypass grafting (OPCAB) versus onpump coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG). Methods WTBZ]We electronically searched PubMed (from 1966 to 2010), Cochrane Library (Issue 12, 2010), EMbase (from 1974 to 2010), CNKI (Chinese, from 1997 to 2010), CBM (Chinese, from 1989 to 2010), and manually searched some journals to collect published or grey literatures of clinical researches on comparison between OPCAB and CABG for elderly patients in the incidence of perioperative strokes. We assessed the methodology quality of included researches and extracted data to conduct metaanalysis by RevMan 5.0 software. Four subgroups (aged 65 to 70 years, 70 to 75 years, 75 to 80 years, and older than 80 years) according to the age of the patients, and subgroups according to the study design were analyzed respectively. Sensitivity analysis was conducted by deleting the studies of low quality. Results We finally identified 17 studies including 5 historical cohort studies and 12 case control studies. No randomized controlled trial was searched. A total of 7 275 patients including 2 521 (34.65%) in the OPCAB group and 4 754 (65.35%) in the CABG group were identified. The metaanalyses of historical cohort study subgroup and case control study subgroup showed statistical difference in stroke incidence between the OPCABG and CABG groups with OR 0.25 and 95%CI 0.10 to 0.62,and with OR 0.25 and 95%CI 0.15 to 0.41,respectively. Statistical difference was tested in three age subgroups (70 to 75 years, 75 to 80 years, and elder than 80 years) and the OR (95%CI) value was 0.35 (0.21, 0.59), 0.14 (0.04, 0.54), and 0.09 (0.02, 0.38),respectively. The difference of stroke incidence between OPCAB and CABG patients in all the three subgroups was significant, while there was no statistical difference in the subgroup aged 65 to 70 years with OR 0.10 and 95%CI 0.01 to 1.68. The sensitvity analysis showed that metaanalysis was stable in case control study subgroup, was not stable in historical cohort study subgroup. Conclusions OPCAB may reduce incidence of perioperative stroke in elderly patients. However, it still needs to be confirmed by more multicenter, largesample, and randomized doubleblind controlled trials in the future.
Objective To systemically evaluate the accuracy of f/t-PSA for diagnosing prostate cancer with a t-PSA level of 4-10ng/mL through meta-analysis. Methods A literature search of CBM, VIP, CNKI and Wanfang Data from 1999 to 2009 was performed. Related journals were also searched manually. Two reviewers independently assessed trial quality according to QUADAS items. Heterogenous studies and meta-analysis were conducted by Meta-Disc1.4 software. The analysis was based on different critical values of f/t-PSA (0.1, 0.15, 0.2, 0.25, and 0.3). Results Total 18 studies involving 2217 subjects were included. No threshold effect was found. But there was heterogeneity due to other factors. The meta–analysis showed that, the sensitivity of f/t-PSA with the critical value of 0.15 for the diagnosis of prostate cancer with a t-PSA level of 4-10ng/mL was 75% (95%CI 70%-79%), and the specificity was 81% (95%CI 78%-84%). The area under SROC curve was 0.883 5, and the Q index was 0.814 0. Conclusion The f/t-PSA is a better index for diagnosing prostate cancer with t-PSA levels between 4 and 10ng/mL. And it is reasonable to consider 0.15 as a more suitable critical value.
Many meta-analysis studies evaluate rates as parameter to assess the overall estimate of effects. However, none of these studies address systematic approaches for the meta-analysis of rates. This paper outlines the conditions, analysis and software operation procedures for the meta-analysis of rates. It also compares different operation procedures of three types of commonly-used R software (Comprehensive Meta-Analysis, Stata and MetaAnalyst) through real application examples. The biggest challenge for the meta-analysis of rates is to determine whether rates can be pooled, and how to evaluate heterogeneity between studies' outcomes needs further discussion.
Objective To assess and report on the current situation of the families of students, who were involved in the Wenchuan earthquake, to provide data for the government to make decisions that should help with recovery from the earthquake. Methods We selected 2 towns and 4 villages using stratified sampling to take account of different levels of destruction. We performed on-site surveys and secondary research. Results The psychological problems of the parents of the students were serious. These families’ economic situations were not good. Conclusion We should build ‘Mutual Aid’ organization and take the advantage of rural hospitals to promote the long-acting mechanism of the psychological intervention.