Enhancing the Interpretation of Continuous Outcomes and Subgroup Analyses in Systematic Reviews

To the Editor Zhou et al conducted a systematic review and meta-analysis to investigate the associations of problem-solving skills training (PSST) with parental, pediatric, and family psychosocial outcomes for parents of children with chronic health conditions. For meta-analysis, the study used the standardized mean difference (SMD) for pooling scores from different scales and found significant improvements in most outcomes were associated with PSST delivered online, such as depression (SMD, −0.45; 95% CI, −0.66 to −0.23), distress (SMD, −0.61; 95% CI, −0.81 to −0.40), and quality of life (SMD, 0.45; 95% CI, 0.15 to 0.74). However, we have concerns regarding the methodologies used, particularly the use of SMD and the interpretation of subgroup analyses.
Source: JAMA Pediatrics - Category: Pediatrics Source Type: research