Can you see the wood for the trees? Making sense of forest plots in systematic reviews: 1. Presentation of the data from the included studies
Hyde CJ., Stanworth SJ., Murphy MF.
The primary purpose of a forest plot is to record the results obtained in each included study in a systematic review. This article explains how this information is presented, beginning the process of helping readers "see the wood for the trees." In the second article, we will consider how the forest plot presents information on the combined results of the studies and whether the amount of variation between the results of the included studies is more than could be accounted for by chance alone.