Meta-Analytical Data Extraction

Once you have configured your Interventions and Data Elements, you are ready to extract data from all included studies in the nest.

Select “MA Extraction” from the menu:

Alternatively, you can Extract MA data from the “MA Extract” tab in Inspector. See here for details on how to get to the Study Modal.

Study Arms represent the patient groups you plan to extract.

To add study arms and identify the Intervention used for each arm, click the “+” button (red circle) in the Study Arms section of the Study Design panel (upper right). Add one Arm for every patient group from the study you plan to extract.

Then, determine what Intervention the study investigated and then find that Intervention using the Intervention drop down menu (see above, red arrow).

Next, determine how many participants were included in the study and put that number in the “Arm Size” box.

Add a new Study Arm for every patient group you want to extract separately.

Once you have finished establishing the Study Arms, you are ready to extract the data from the underlying study. The first step in doing so, for each Data Element, is establishing the Measurement Timepoint for each Data Element.

Each Data Element has one Timepoint presented by default; select whether this timepoint will be:

• Baseline: Usually reported at the start of a study. One Baseline timepoint per Data Element will be displayed on Synthesis.
• Outcome: Reported at a designated follow-up period. One Outcome timepoint per Data Element will be displayed on Synthesis.
• Other: Any additional timepoint reported that is of interest. Any number of Other timepoints may be created and saved in AutoLit, but “Other” timepoints will not be presented on Synthesis.

For each Timepoint, enter the follow-up period with the appropriate unit of time (Days, Weeks, etc.). For Baseline Timepoints, this will typically be 0 days.

Read through the study and extract the relevant data scoped to each specific Timepoint.

If the total population for any Data Element differs from the total population you reported for the Study Arm as a whole, ensure that you edit this information in the “Total” column for that individual Data Element.

If you hover over the tag symbol on each data point (see Figure above, red circles), you will notice that the tags applied will appear. This allows for a quick and efficient way to confirm the work of the taggers, as well as the tags giving information to you as the extractor.

CAUTION: Watch for the red Xs that appear under “Status”. This means something is wrong with the data (missing information, non-numerical information, or other error).

If any of your data elements have a red X, DO NOT hit “Complete”. You will need to figure out the problem and fix it before hitting “Complete” or risk losing the data from that row.

Note: Anytime there is a module box with the adjustable icon, you can drag to adjust the width of the box depending on your preference.

Once you have input all of the relevant and correct data AND all of the timepoints for each Data Element you extracted have a green check mark, you can hit complete and move onto the next study!