Hydrolyzed Protein and Allergy Prevention - The Role of Meta-analysis

Hania Szajewska wants to help medical practitioners understand how the use of meta-analysis as a research tool can lead towards better evidence-based conclusions on the use of hydrolyzed formula for allergy prevention. 

She explains why meta-analysis offers the chance to reliably detect clinically important data and to improve precision in estimating the effects of different formulas.  She believes that one of the most important decisions to be made in meta-analysis is whether to pool data, and when.  She notes that due to study design, participants, interventions and outcomes, research may reach different conclusions. 

She gives a detailed review of a recent piece of research where findings were not consistent when two major clinical studies into the effects of hydrolyzed formula on allergies were compared.